Risen from Ruins
by Jaenera Targaryen
Summary: Darnic failed to claim the Grail in 1944. Having survived and escaped his confrontation against Zouken, he refused to abandon his ambition, and bade his time to try one more. Fifty years later, one of his agents found a runaway girl...a runaway girl who would rise to become an important piece in his and Yggdmillennia's ambition. [CROSS-POSTED FROM SB]
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Prologue

"Hello there."

The little girl in a cramped shelter patched together from cardboard looked up in surprise at the words of greeting, previously huddled in on herself to keep warm. All around, the rain fell from the grey and dreary sky, streaming down along the walls of the surrounding buildings, to puddle on the streets, roads, and alleys, or to simply gush down the gutters and into the drains.

The city's air matched the appearance of the sky above, people under umbrellas going past along the streets in silence, huddled into themselves for protection against the cold and the chill. Water splashed as vehicles of all kinds sped down the road, and dripped down from the overhangs partly-sheltering the alleys, down onto the homeless and the destitute in their shelters with what little belongings they had.

The man and the child stared at each other, their respective appearances in stark contrast with each other. The man's face was lined with age, but he looked healthy for all that, his hair well-groomed and his beard neatly-trimmed around his mouth, while his eyes shone bright with vigor tempered by wisdom born of life experience. And while his coat was worn and well-used, the clothes he wore underneath were clean and well-suited, while the gold and enamel pin on his tie spoke of high status and rank.

The girl though was pale and haggard, the silhouettes of her bones showing through her skin from hunger. Her hair was matted and unwashed, and her clothes scuffed, worn, and dirty. Dirt was smudged onto her face, and her fingers stained with mud and filth. Worst of all were her eyes, looking out onto the world empty and resigned without hope for the future.

The man smiled. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing here?" he asked.

"…please go away." The child murmured after a moment. "I just want to be left alone."

"Do you now?" the man asked. "Hmm…you know…my friends and I heard a story a while back, about a little girl running away from home because her family didn't want her. That's rather shameful, don't you think?"

The little girl stared, and then crept back deeper into her shelter, and huddled against the wall at the back. "Please go away." She repeated, louder but still very soft.

The man laughed before crouching down. "Oh sorry…it seems I gave the wrong impression." He said. "I didn't mean the little girl running away from home was shameful. It's that her family would just throw away someone as gifted and interesting as you are that was shameful."

"I…I'm not the one you're looking for." The little girl mumbled, keeping her eyes away from the man. "I…I don't have a family. I…never knew them."

"Hmm…" the man hummed, looking on as the little girl cried in silence, tears trickling down from her eyes over her cheeks. "It's alright. We completely understand. It's the same with Yggdmillennia, you see. We're the odds and ends of our kind, the little people in the background that the big people in center stage don't really see, and when they do see, it's only because and when it's convenient for them to."

The little girl stayed silent, but curiously glanced at the man after a few moments. "Yggdmillennia…?" she echoed softly, mangling the pronunciation with her accent and unfamiliarity with the name.

"That's right." The man said with a nod and a smile. "It means 'Tree of a Thousand Realms', because our family has so many branches, all working together for the good of all."

"…really?" the little girl asked.

"Yes." The man said with another nod. "The little people have to stick together, after all. It's the only way we can really be noticed, and avoid getting used or stepped on or just plain thrown away…or even all three, by the big people who only care for themselves. If we're to stand, then we need to do it together."

The little girl stared at the man with a mix of skeptical disbelief and reluctant fascination. Her expression didn't change as the man offered her a hand before continuing to speak. "My name is Edward Copeland Yggdmillennia." He said. "Would you like to become one of the Thousand Realms, little one?"

"…I…I don't know…I…"

"It's alright." Edward said with a nod. "I understand if you feel uncertain. There's nothing to be ashamed of about that. It's only natural, when you know so little about us, and when you're also one of the little people. Trust me, I know. It's second nature to us, to not be seen at all, much less rocking the boat, or the big people will come down hard on us. But don't worry…I can tell you this much: all that will happen is that you'll add our name to yours, and you'll be all you can be."

"All…I can be…?" the little girl echoed.

"Yes," Edward said, his hand still extended. "And no one will ever not want you again. So how about it, little one?"

"I…"

Edward stayed silent, smiling and with hand extended, looking on as the child fidgeted in her shelter, looking and sounding uncertain on what to do. Eventually, she turned to face him, carefully crept closer, and then…

* * *

_Thirteen years later_

"Look…it's a Stymphalian…"

Shirou Emiya blinked at the reference to Greek mythology, and turning away from the ongoing duel in front of him, turned instead in the direction of where several fellow Clock Tower students were muttering and murmuring while glancing or staring at something else. To Shirou, it looked like a large mechanical raptor of some kind, only made from gleaming bronze or some other yellow-colored alloy, though he did a double-take as he saw the raptor's body was clearly just a shell of some kind.

Large portions of the underside were exposed to the open air, essentially just a skeleton or lattice of alloy through which a roiling mass of violet light could be seen. That same violet light burned balefully through the raptor's eyes, albeit focused to near-laser brightness.

Regardless, it was very well made, the feathers each individually crafted before being attached to the body, which despite its hollow and visibly-artificial design was very lifelike for all those. Shirou didn't like what his abilities let him see about its bladed wings, talons, and beak, though. The raptor design wasn't just for aesthetics' sake, oh no.

When the familiar – or automaton, he wasn't quite sure which it was – was used in battle, then it killed like a raptor was expected to.

Not necessarily a bad thing…but only _if _the raptor was doing so simply out of its own nature. In the familiar/automaton's case, there was deliberation behind the brutality of its design.

"_Stymphalian…?_" Shirou thought. "_Obviously a reference to the Stymphalian Birds of Greek mythology…and they certainly look the part…now, I wonder who's behind them._"

Shirou blinked as he heard cheers and more from the rest of the audience, and seeing the duel between Rin Tohsaka and Luviagelita 'Luvia' Edelfelt come to an end, rushed forward to help. As he approached, he could see that both young women were heaving on their backs against the ground, covered in scuffs and scrapes, and muttering and snapping half-hearted insults and compliments to each other.

Clearly, they'd started to gain more than a bit of respect for each other. Technically a good thing, but…

…looking around the battered and broken ring, Shirou sighed in exasperation.

"_Couldn't they have earned each other's respect without going this far?_" he silently asked no one in particular.

Then Shirou blinked, and looked up at the sound of a raptor's cry. There, circling overhead, was the so-called Stymphalian, which circled twice more for a total of three times, and then beating its metallic pinions, flew off into the depths of the Clock Tower.

"…looks like we caught Yggdmillennia's attention." Shirou heard Luvia remark with a slightly disparaging touch. "Good…that should teach that band of upstarts how true magi and nobles defend their stations."

"Yggdmillennia…?" Rin echoed next to Luvia, and struggling to sit up a moment later. "If I remember right, they're supposed to be a guild or alliance of minor clans and houses, aren't they?"

"…they are." Luvia agreed after a moment's thought while also struggling to sit up. "In practice, at least. On paper, they claim to be one big family, the so-called 'Tree of a Thousand Realms'. I'd be very surprised if more than a tenth – if even that – of their scions are actually related to each other, though."

"So it's just talk on their part?" Rin asked.

Luvia looked at Rin strangely for a long moment, and then getting up, offered Rin a hand to help her stand with. Rin stared at it in surprise, and then taking it, let herself be helped up to her feet.

"Hmm…so Yggdmillennia wasn't lying, was she?" Luvia asked.

"About what?" Rin asked.

Luvia didn't answer at once, and instead looked around the arena. The audience had begun to disperse, but there were still plenty of people around. "Not here," she said. "Let's talk about this in private. You too, Shero."

"Huh, what?" Shirou stammered in surprise at being addressed so, but quickly recovered. "Oh uh…sure. Just lead the way."

* * *

"Let's start off by removing and all misconceptions." Luvia said, seated across a table from Rin in a private room. "Do you mean to say that your family has never had any dealings with the Yggdmillennia in the past?"

"No, of course not." Rin immediately said. "We have no reason to interact with much less make any dealings with the Yggdmillennia. While I wouldn't say we're particularly important beyond what's expected of a family with a hereditary position of Second Owner, as well as our founder having been an apprentice of the Second Magician, we're not so desperate or ambitious or even both as to band with depleted bloodlines and scrabbling households to hold onto what little we have left, or to reach above our station."

"…subtle…real subtle, Tohsaka." Luvia said with a roll of her eyes. "A very interesting way to boast, you truly have."

Rin rolled her eyes in her turn, only to be beaten to the punch by Luvia. "Not to mention," she said. "Are you really one to talk about banding with depleted bloodlines? As I recall, one of your oldest allies is the Matou Clan. Aren't they supposed to have completely withered?"

"Only in the present generation." Rin quickly shot back. "At the time the alliance was forged, the Matou were a vibrant and flourishing clan of magi, worthy of respect and acknowledgement."

"A fair point." Luvia conceded, and then leaned back as maids arrived with tea and sweetmeats. All conversation stilled as china and silver were laid out, and tea was poured for all. Then the maids were bowing out, and the conversation resumed.

"In any case," Rin continued. "From what I've heard of Yggdmillennia, they have improper if not rather heterodox opinions on established doctrine. In particular, when it comes to sharing secrets and methodologies between their branches."

Luvia snorted at that. "The same could be said about the Mages Association, could it not?" she asked.

"Not really," Rin disagreed. "The Association is an educational institution, with knowledge-sharing done on a scholarly basis with proper safeguards and regulation in place. To my knowledge, no such thing exists within Yggdmillennia."

Luvia tapped her fingers several times against the table in thought. "Charitably-speaking," she finally said. "I would say this line of thought and conversation to be delving into matters too heavily dependent on hearsay and assumption to be continued by individuals such as ourselves."

"In other words," Rin said with a small smile. "Let's not act like gossiping housewives, shall we?"

Luvia smiled in agreement, and raised her teacup in a small toast. Rin returned the toast, and took a drink together. Then, setting down her teacup, Luvia took a silver bell sitting on the table, and gave it a gentle shake. A moment later and a maid was entering the room.

"You called, my lady?" she asked with a polite curtsy.

"Bring me the file on Tohsaka Yggdmillennia." Luvia commanded.

"Yes, my lady." The maid said with another curtsy.

Rin, who was taking another drink of her tea, choked at the mention of that name. As it was, it all she could to avoid spitting it out, and after several moments recovering (helped by Shirou rubbing her on the back), she focused back on Luvia with a look of shock on her face.

"SAY WHAT?" she all but shouted.

"Volume, Tohsaka." Luvia chided while taking a drink of her tea. "As to your question…Tohsaka Yggdmillennia arrived two, maybe three years ago. Surprisingly though, she came from Romania. Apparently, she'd been raised in their home city of Trifas."

"Why is that surprising?" Shirou asked. "I mean…like you said, that's their home city."

"Because only the most powerful and promising scions actually live and are trained at Trifas." Luvia said. "Most of the so-called Thousand Realms are scattered across the world."

"And?" Rin asked with narrowed eyes. "This…pretender…what was she like? Considering our family's history, _cousin_, I'm sure you approached her."

"Cousin?" Shirou asked in surprise.

"I'll explain later." Rin said, before looking back at Luvia. "Well…?"

Luvia just smiled. "Why yes, as a matter of fact, I did approach her." She said. "Interestingly, she has the Edelfelt look, just as much as you do. She also admitted being of your family…once."

"Once…?" Rin echoed in confusion.

Luvia hummed an affirmative. "She said she was an outcast, but she refused to elaborate." She said. "I've tried to look into her past further, but I've largely been met with dead ends, sadly enough. And while we are acquainted with each other on speaking terms, we don't really rub shoulders very much."

Luvia paused and looked thoughtful for a while. "Curiously," she said. "She's with the Department of Spiritual Invocation…how strange is that? If she's one of us, wouldn't her skills lie in Jewel Magecraft, and thus she should be in Mineralogy? Or Creation even, with those Stymphalian automatons of hers. Hmm…"

Both Rin and Luvia lapsed into thoughtful silence, broken a few minutes later by a knock on the door. "Enter." Luvia commanded.

The door opened to allow a maid to enter, a file resting on a tray. "The file on Tohsaka Yggdmillennia, my lady." She said with a curtsy.

"Excellent," Luvia said with a nod before gesturing to Rin. "Bring it to Tohsaka, if you please."

"Yes, my lady."

Rin raised an eyebrow but stayed silent, and just took the offered file with a grateful nod at the maid. The maid curtsied and left, and then Rin opened the file. Her eyes all but popped out of her skull at the sight that met her on the first page.

"THIS IS…!"

* * *

A/N

Wow, it's been over a year already. Oh well, update time. Let's take this a bit slower, instead of just throwing stuff into the reader/s' face/s. Let's add in Rin (is suffering) and Shirou for flavor, and voila.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 1

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia asked.

"Even if I didn't, orders are orders." Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia replied.

The two Yggdmillennia scions were in a darkened room inside the large building their family owned and maintained as their collective residence and outpost in London. The room's walls were insulated in lead, while the tiles paneling the insides made up a hexagonal ward array that tied into the bounded fields to further protect the interior from supernatural surveillance.

Standard procedure for Yggdmillennia or indeed, magi in general, but ever since moving in, Caules had made his own contributions based on experience with the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories. While other departments were scornful of the development, under the leadership of Lord El-Melloi II, the magi of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories had cautiously embraced technological innovation and aids to assist in their research and studies.

Caules himself made use of a personal computer, and on learning and further investigating the concept of 'bugs', had obtained provisional approval for additional anti-spying measures to be implemented, at least for the London outpost. Specifically, existing measures focused only on finding and removing _supernatural_ means of surveillance, but completely ignored _technological _means of surveillance.

Normally it was a concern that would have met scorn from the senior leaders not just of the Yggdmillennia, but of magi society in general. However, the successes of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories were equally undeniable, regardless of the means used to achieve them, and it was reluctantly admitted that potential foes from said department could take advantage of such a similarly-potential blind spot.

Now, security measures for Yggdmillennia's London outpost included sweeps for bugs, measures already under review by the family's leadership after they did find a small number of bugs about two years ago. They were traced by experts hired by the family to one Atrum Galliasta, and causing a minor scandal as a result.

He and his family denied the allegations, and had even attempted to use them to tar Yggdmillennia in retaliation. Ironically, the scandal was laid to rest in the 'traditional' way, a duel between magi, which ended with Atrum Galliasta's corpse lying dead on the ground of an arena, his heart literally cut out of his body by a saber.

"That doesn't really answer my question." Caules said, standing behind a desk with a trio of monitors linked to a bank of multiple CPUs under the table. "You've come this far without a crest. Do you really need one?"

"…maybe I'm being a bit selfish." Sakura admitted, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, wearing a white skinsuit with blue accents. Wires ran from leads plugged into the skinsuit to the computers Caules was operating, while a virtual reality (VR) interface sat over the upper half of her head. "Greedy even…but, I think I've earned the right to be a little selfish and greedy, don't you think?"

"…maybe…" Caules admitted after a moment, and adjusted his glasses while keeping his eyes on the data scrolling past on the screen. "But, and no offense, you're already seventeen. Normally, crests are implanted at a young age, preferably before puberty begins, sometimes before school age, even. And even then they still bring significant risks."

"I know." Sakura said. "And the risks increase geometrically the older the recipient of a crest is when they receive it. Even so, I still think it's worth the risk. Besides, I'm not that old, and in the worst-case scenario, Fiore will have some companionship in her situation."

"…you know she wouldn't want companionship if it means someone she considers family gets hurt in the process." Caules pointed out after a moment. "And that's not the worst-case scenario. That's still a fairly tame outcome, when you think about it."

"True," Sakura admitted, before grimacing and then twitching several times as the simulation took an unexpected turn. The conversation stilled for several minutes, the two magi focusing on their task until finally the simulation ran its course, and Sakura removed the VR interface with a sigh of relief. "In any case, we're magi. Everything we do has some element of risk to it, to a greater or lesser degree."

"I'm just looking out for you, that's all." Caules said.

"I know. And thanks…I really appreciate it." Sakura said, unplugging the leads before releasing the safety harnesses and getting off the seat. Stretching her limbs did interesting things to her body, and leading Caules to firmly keep his eyes away from her.

Fortunately, the monitors provided a convenient excuse to do so…

…at least until Sakura walked over to stand next to him. "So," she said. "How does it look?"

"The probabilities still aren't in our favor." Caules said with a sigh. "I still need some more time to properly explain the details, but just from the look of things, I can say that you can't win a standup fight against her."

"Hmm…not surprised…" Sakura admitted. "She's supposed to be a first class magus, and with more…direct, abilities compared to myself. Though, that only means we have to change tactics."

"What do you mean?" Caules asked.

Sakura smiled, and patted him on the back. "Reset the simulator," she said, while heading back to the seat. "And set it to autonomous mode."

"H-h-hey, that's dangerous!" Caules warned. "You could fry your brain if the simulation gets too vivid!"

Sakura just smiled wider while strapping in the safety harnesses. "I know." She said, before replacing the leads. Holding the VR interface in her hands, she glanced at Caules and shrugged. "But, I'm a magus. Now, please do as I asked, Caules."

Caules stared at Sakura, and sighed with a shake of his head. "Good luck," he said, as he typed away at a keyboard. "And don't die."

"Thanks…and I won't." Sakura said, before replacing the VR interface. Then sitting back, set her face with determination as the simulation started.

* * *

_Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia drew her saber from its scabbard with a steely hiss, and then magic circuits flickered blue across her body as she reinforced it._

_"Reinforcement?" Atrum Galliasta remarked questioningly before giving a snort. "Starting off fairly safe aren't we? Let me…"_

_The ground broke beneath Sakura's feet as she charged forward with enough speed to crack the ground in her wake. Atrum smirked as lightning crackled around an arm, and raised it to point at Sakura…_

_…only for Sakura to pass through Atrum's body, his face twisting in shock and surprise…_

_…which turned to pain as he staggered forward several steps with a cry, blood flying from an ugly gash cut into his back. Turning, he stared, eyes wide with rage, at Sakura swinging blood from her sword. "What's wrong?" she taunted. "I'm playing safe, aren't I? Don't tell me you can't keep up. After all, I'm just a nobody aren't I?"_

_"Bitch…!" Atrum shrieked, and raised an arm again…_

_…only to cry out as Sakura flickered through him again, and blood flew from his back as another gash was cut into it. He staggered forward, turned…_

_…and Sakura passed through him again, cutting yet another gash into his back with her sword._

"My God…" Rin said with a disbelieving shake of her head. "It's her. It's really her, God damn it."

The three of them – Luvia, Rin, and Shirou – were sitting in a private room and watching a recording of a duel from three years ago. Apparently, Yggdmillennia had accused Galliasta of spying on them, producing recovered spy equipment and tracing data recovered by cyber experts in their employ as evidence.

Galliasta had denied it, of course, and had even launched a smear campaign against Yggdmillennia for involving non-magi into magi affairs. In the end, one of the Yggdmillennia scions present in London – Sakura – had challenged the Galliasta heir, and had taken him apart.

"She's fast." Shirou breathed.

"Yes, she is." Luvia agreed with a nod. "But she never moves at her fastest right up until she's in front of her enemy, then she accelerates even further. Just for an instant…just enough to generate an afterimage that passed through the enemy's body and throws them off-balance…"

"…a petty trick…" Rin whispered.

"True…and easy to see through off the battlefield…" Luvia simultaneously agreed and disagreed. "On it though…well, it's not so easy to think when someone is swinging a sword around to take your head."

"…well yeah…but…that's only if the enemy isn't trained to move and fight without thinking…" Shirou hesitantly chimed in. "You and Tohsaka are."

"Hmm…so we are…" Luvia agreed with a small smile. "Of course, this assumes Tohsaka Yggdmillennia doesn't have more tricks up her sleeve. You never know when it comes to magi, and she _is _one of the few first class magi they have."

Silence fell as they continued watching the duel. Or rather, Atrum literally having his back skinned, before Sakura finally finished him off.

_Arm blurring, Sakura stabbed Atrum's chest several times, before pulling her sword away with a weakly-beating heart impaled on the blade, literally cut from her opponent's chest. For a moment, Atrum's body swayed where it stood, as though unwilling to comprehend his death, and then he toppled over backward, falling to the ground in a growing pool of blood._

_Swinging the heart off her weapon's blade, Sakura wiped it clean of blood, before tossing the dirty kerchief onto Atrum's corpse. Then sheathing her weapon, turned to walk away._

"…so brutal." Shirou said with a shake of his head.

Luvia gave him a deadpan glance. "It's bloodier, yes," she said. "But I wouldn't say she's particularly any more brutal than me or Tohsaka, Shero. You remember how we fought yesterday, yes?"

"Well…if you put it that way…"

"That's not the point here!" Rin shouted, slamming a fist against the coffee table. "Sakura…she ran away as a child because she didn't want to become a magus! And yet she somehow became a magus in the end, regardless? It doesn't make sense! It just doesn't! It's like…it's like a joke…in very bad taste! And how the hell did she become one of the Yggdmillennia at all?"

"I don't know." Luvia said with a shrug. "Maybe they just found her and recruited her on the spot?"

"…do you have any idea just how…improbable, that sounds?" Rin snarled. "Yggdmillennia recruiters or magi who just happen to be in Japan run into a runaway with as much potential as Sakura does, and just recruit her on the spot? And like I said, _she didn't want to be a magus_. Why would she agree to go with them at all?"

"That assumes she even had a choice in the first place." Luvia said with another shrug. "They probably just picked her up and raised and trained her as one of them…though, the point about how…improbable, the scenario is, is conceded."

Rin snarled in frustration before burying her face in her hands before shaking her head. "I…I don't…I don't understand!" she finally snapped, raising her face while shaking her head once more. "I…I need to think about this…"

"Well, if nothing else," Luvia said while sitting back into the couch. "You could always just ask her. I mean…she is your sister. Who knows? Maybe she just might give you the answers you're looking for."

* * *

"I'm sorry," the pretty homunculus sitting at the receptionist's desk of the Yggdmillennia residence said. "But non-members and non-associates are not allowed entry without an appointment in advance. If you are willing, I can make contact with and schedule a future appointment with your person of interest at this time."

"Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia…" Rin said. "I need to speak with her as soon as possible."

"An appointment will be arranged the soonest as is convenient for Lady Sakura." The homunculus said, having pulled out a form and filling it out. "May I know my lady's name for reference's sake?"

"Rin Tohsaka…I'm her sister."

The homunculus froze, and glanced at Rin. "For confirmation," she began. "You are Rin Tohsaka, the Sixth Tohsaka Magus, correct?"

"That's right." Rin said with a nod, before narrowing her eyes. "Is there a problem?"

"Not as such," the homunculus said while crumpling the form and tossing it into a trash bin. "However, we received instructions should you arrive. Please wait a moment."

Rin huffed and looked on as the homunculus picked up a phone and dialed an internal number. "Yes, Lady Sakura?" she said. "Magus Tohsaka…yes…yes, I understand. It will be done, my lady."

The homunculus briefly set the phone aside to address Rin once more. "Lady Sakura says to tell you to go home." She said.

Rin's jaw fell open in shock and surprise, but in the next moment she was lunging forward, and grabbing the phone from the homunculus' hand. The woman surprisingly didn't resist, probably having been instructed not to. Holding the phone to her ear, Rin began to speak. "Sakura…?" she asked with only the slightest tremor in her voice. "Is this really you Sakura? Please…I just want to talk. It's Rin, your big sister."

"Ah, Rin!" a voice as familiar as it was alien responded with surprising cheer. "It's been a long time, hasn't it? I'm not surprised you want to talk, but not just yet. Not until preparations are done."

"Preparations?" Rin echoed. "Preparations for what?"

A series of tuts could be heard over the phone. "Now, that would be telling." Sakura said. "But as of this time…it is time for you to go. My associates will escort you and your friend out."

Rin blinked, and looked towards the doors leading past the reception area as they opened, allowing a number of white-uniformed homunculi to file out, holding heavy polearms in their hands. "_La Revedere, Rin._" Sakura said in Romanian, and then ended the call.

Numbed at the shockingly lighthearted dismissal, Rin shakily returned the phone to the receptionist. Taking a look around at the impassive ranks of Yggdmillennia's foot soldiers, Rin dithered uncertainly for a few moments, until Shirou placed a hand on her shoulder.

Looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face, he shook his head. "We can always come back, Tohsaka." He said. "Right now…we should go."

Rin's mouth worked wordlessly for several moments, and then she jerkily nodded. "Y-yeah…" she stammered out. "Let's…"

Shirou nodded back, and stepping aside, allowed Rin to take the lead.

* * *

"Was that really necessary?"

Sakura stopped playing with her cat to glance at Caules. "Yes." She replied.

"…in what way?" he asked.

"It's too soon to conduct discussions with her." Sakura said. "Not until we have a commanding position, and we can present terms as we please. I'm not saying there's no room for compromise, but they must be made on _our _terms."

Caules stared at Sakura for several moments, and then sighing, walked over to look out the windows. "She's your sister." He finally said.

"Biologically, yes." Sakura agreed. "In every other way that matters…? Not in a long time…though that might change soon…but as with any and all discussions, it must be done on our terms."

"…is there really no other way?" Caules asked after a moment.

"Unless you want to cross grandfather, then no." Sakura said, making sure to meet his eyes. "There's no other way to get what we need. And quickly too, because there are whispers that some in the Association want to dismantle grandfather's prize once and for all after the most recent ritual's failure. We've come this far. We can't stop now. The plan is still in motion."

Caules looked troubled, and briefly looking away, gave a sigh. Then turning back to Sakura, gave her a smile. "How about some tea?" he asked. "We still have some butter cookies from Denmark, too. Though, I'm not sure if we'll have any more left if we have them with tea now…"

Sakura laughed at Caules' worries. "Then we'll just have to buy some more in that case, don't we?" she asked.

Caules shrugged. "Guess we do." He said, before making to leave. "I'll just go and put a kettle on the stove, alright?"

"Please and thank you."

"Alright then."

Caules walked off, leaving Sakura to play with her cat. "Now then, Napoleon," she said, picking up the orange tabby and holding him up to eye level. "How do you think this will play out?"

The cat mewled at his owner, and Sakura beamed before hugging the cat closer to herself. "Yeah," she cheerfully said. "That's what I thought too."

* * *

"Preparations…preparations…preparations…" Rin muttered while pacing back and forth in her living room. "…preparations…preparations…preparations…"

Rin stopped muttering, and stood still. And then with a shout of frustration, kicked out at a chair, sending it flying towards a nearby wall. Drawn by the commotion, Shirou rushed over from the kitchen, and found Rin pacing once again. "Tohsaka…" he said with a sigh. "No offense but…throwing a tantrum isn't going to help, you know."

"I know." Rin said wearily. "But…I…I just can't keep it all in."

"No, I guess you can't." Shirou said with a nod. Walking over to the chair, he put it back into place, and adjusting the cushions, sat down. "Maybe…maybe talking about it will help. Let it all out, or something like that."

Rin stopped pacing, and stared at Shirou. Shirou stared back, and after few minutes, Rin shook her head. "I appreciate the thought," she said. "And while I do agree it might help, it's not really something I can talk about with you with."

"Why not?" Shirou asked.

"Because it concerns Tohsaka family affairs." Rin said wearily. "Sorry to say, but it really is none of your business."

"Because I'm an outsider?" Shirou asked with a small smile. "Am I really? I'm your apprentice, after all. Didn't you once tell me that apprentices are supposed to be family in all but name and blood? Or were you lying back then?"

Rin made a sound like a squeak toy being stepped on, and stared at Shirou with her mouth slightly agape. Shirou stared back, still with that small smile on his face. Rin stared for several more moments, and then sighing again, shook her head. "You can be quite the smartass, can't you, Emiya?" she asked. He just shrugged in response, and Rin laughed weakly while shaking her head again. "You know…you remind me of Archer sometimes…"

Now it was Shirou's turn to sound like a squeak toy being stepped on. "…I'm not sure what to feel about that." He said, and Rin snorted.

"Yeah…and I don't blame you…" she said before sighing again. "You know how succession works in magi families, right?"

"Yes." Shirou said with a nod. "Most magi families only ever have one child, because only one child can ever inherit the family's crest anyway. More than one child is, well, a waste, at least in the eyes of magi society. I don't…completely agree, but I understand the reasoning."

"…sometimes however," Rin said after a moment. "Magi families do produce more than one child. But like you said, since only one child can inherit the crest, the second child is useless. They're usually left ignorant of their heritage, or even if they aren't, they're not trained if still expected to support the rest of the family in some way."

Rin paused and sighed. "There are…exceptions, to those rules," she said. "But the relevant part is that my sister – Sakura – was born with equal potential to myself. There was a qualitative difference, of course: I'm an Average One, with affinities for all five elements, while Sakura has the incredibly rare Imaginary Numbers."

"And…?" Shirou prompted.

"…our father thought it would be…unfair, and unjust, if Sakura's potential was never given the chance to be all it could be, like I had." Rin continued. "But since he couldn't teach her himself, he tried to find someone who can. He found them in my family's old ally, the Matou Clan. They'd withered out, you see, with the ones among them who could use magecraft only barely able to do anything on their own, not without…extreme, measures…"

Rin trailed off, while Shirou looked away, lost in their memories of the Fifth Holy Grail War in general, and in particular a pitiful wretch who had once been a peer and a friend, respectively, reduced to begging for death after he'd been turned into a bloated mass of mutated flesh. "And…?" Shirou prompted again.

"It's not uncommon among magi to send…unwanted, children off to be adopted by friendly families." Rin said. "In Sakura's case…she was to be their next heiress. Even if she couldn't inherit their crest, she could have learned Matou's mysteries, and received the chance father couldn't give her otherwise."

"Unwanted…?" Shirou echoed thoughtfully. "Maybe…maybe that's just it…"

"What do you mean?" Rin asked.

"Maybe that's why she ran away." Shirou said. "It's not so much that she didn't want to be a magus, as much as she thought that you didn't want her so…in an insane yet very…childish way, she didn't want you either…or something like that I don't know…"

Rin's face turned cold and hard as ice. "Sakura was born into a magus household." She said. "She might never have been trained by us, but she knew what was expected of her. What she was born to be…could have been…it was a great honor…a great opportunity…and she threw it all away…"

Shirou's face was sad. "You don't really believe that, do you?" he asked.

"No, I don't know what to believe anymore!" Rin exploded, before walking over to a wall and punching it hard enough to flake the plaster and send cracks through the bricks beneath. "Father…father was so angry…and so ashamed…he had to get down on the ground and bow to Zouken Matou while apologizing for how…how Sakura had broken our family's word…and afterwards…"

"…what happened?" Shirou asked after Rin had fallen silent for several long moments.

"He said…" Rin softly stammered out. "He said…it was better to think my sister had never existed…"

* * *

Sakura sneezed once, twice, and then three times. "…someone must be talking bad about me." She said. "Oh well, I don't really care."

Unbuttoning her sleeve, Sakura rolled it up, and then opened one of her pocket dimensions. Magic circuits glowed blue on her arm as she reached inside Imaginary Numbers Space, and then siphoned off her excess prana to be stored inside the pocket dimension, in much the same way Jewel Magi like the Edelfelt or the 'independent' line of the Tohsaka used jewels to store their excess prana in. Of course, whether it was her pocket dimensions or their gems, it could always be taken back later for use on a rainy day.

Humming to herself while continuing to siphon away her prana, Sakura let one of her feet tap the floor in time with her humming, only to be interrupted by a knock at her workshop door. "Wait…let me tidy up first." She said, before ending her routine with a muttered grumble. Closing the pocket dimension, Sakura reset her bounded fields while heading to the door. "What is it?"

"Daily update, Lady Sakura." One of a pair of homunculi standing outside her door said, handing her a clipboard.

Sakura took it, speedreading the page in front before flipping to the next one. Again speedreading, Sakura repeated over the pages, and on reaching the last one, took the attached pen to affix her signature to the bottom. Then she handed it back to the homunculus. "Thank you." She politely said.

"You're welcome, Lady Sakura." The homunculus said with a salute, his partner doing likewise. Then the two of them were walking off, while Sakura closed the door and primed the bounded fields again. For a moment, she considered resuming her daily ritual of storing away excess prana, but then she thought better of it.

"_I can always do that later._" Sakura thought to herself, again resetting her workshop's bounded fields. "_Right now, I want to go out._"

Nodding to herself in self-agreement, Sakura left her workshop and locking the door behind her, went off to get a change of clothes. She needed to look presentable if she went out to town, after all.

* * *

A/N

Now then, what could Darnic – who else could Sakura's (and Caules and Fiore's) grandfather – be planning?


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 2

"_And it was all going so well, too._" Sakura silently lamented to herself.

She'd been having dinner at a pub about fifteen minutes away from the Yggdmillennia outpost by bus, and still close enough that plenty of patrons were from the Clock Tower. At least three of the people having a drink at the bar were wearing the uniform – that few actually ever wore – of the Clock Tower, the emblem of the Department of Individual Fundamentals stitched over the shoulder of their mantles.

Lit by gaslights to add authenticity to the antique style of the interior decorations, the pub had been filled with patrons, whether seated around tables having dinner or standing at or leaning against the bar while having a drink. The air had been filled with the sound of conversation, laughter, the tinkle of silver against china, while in the background a commentator could be heard over the radio about a football game being held somewhere nearby.

Then it had all been ruined, when cars screeched to a halt outside of the building, and men poured out before opening fire. Bullets ripped through the glass of the windows, sending shards flying and blood splattering as bodies were punched through with hot lead. Screams filled the air as corpses fell, silver falling as china and glass shattered.

Sakura had been halfway through her meal of steak and potatoes when the attack started, and immediately threw herself against the ground as gunfire filled the pub. Thankfully, her table had been against the wall and hidden by a pillar, which kept her from getting gunned down in the first volley.

Taking a moment to gather her wits, she quickly retreated inside Imaginary Number Space, and simultaneously sent one of her bound spirits to keep an eye on what was happening in the bar, relaying what it could see and hear back to her by means of shared perception. Looking through the spirit's eyes, Sakura saw men in casual wear and carrying submachine guns burst through the door, while being covered by others through the window. She watched as the bartender popped up from behind the blood and drink-stained bar counter, and fire off a double-barrel shotgun.

One of the gunmen went down, his chest exploding in a bloody flower, but the bartender was gunned down himself in the next moment before he could get back into cover. "_Who the hell are these guys?_" Sakura thought to herself. "_I can't leave until these guys do…ugh…let's see…_"

Sakura was about to use mental interference through her bound spirit to take control of the gunmen, and force them to go away. Before she could, though, the back door burst open, and…

…_something_, rushed out in a blaze of light and prana. It zigzagged through the pub, flying past and around bullets while cutting men down in showers of blood, corpses falling in his wake.

"_That's a magus!_" Sakura realized. "_But what's…what's with his body…_"

Then her mouth fell open, as a bullet that should have blown the magus' head apart simply _burned away _as it touched the cloak of glowing prana around his body. Sakura then grimaced as the magus literally ripped the last gunman – the one who almost succeeded in shooting him in the head – apart.

Alone now, the magus heaved and breathed heavily, before his cloak of prana began to disappear, revealing a blonde boy of around her age in his place. Looking around him in worry and concern, he jumped out of the window in the next moment, and fled.

"_…interesting…very interesting…_" Sakura thought. "_…he also seemed really familiar too…I swear I've seen him before…_"

Humming to herself, Sakura sent out another one of her bound spirits to follow the boy, while having the previous one put up a bounded field around the pub. Once that was done, Sakura reopened and left Imaginary Numbers Space, returning to reality.

"_Going in and out always leaves me feeling a bit clammy…_" she mused, while rubbing her fingers against each other. And then approaching her fellow magi, she sank down to her knees, and felt for a pulse.

They were there, but they were weak, and probably only alive thanks to their crests. Even then though, they'd lost too much blood to move.

Sakura then blinked as she heard another car arrive, and quickly jumping over the counter, hid behind it. For good measure, she once again slipped inside Imaginary Numbers Space.

Two men rushed inside the pub, guns raised and ready to shoot anything that moved. "Bloody hell," one of them said, before lowering his gun. "Look at this place. That Glascheit brat must have gone all out."

"No time to be taking the piss, no doubt about it." The other gunman said. "We've got to get him before he digs up even more dirt than he already has."

"…maybe we should just let him go." The first gunman said, leading the way into the pub, and leaning against the bar counter. "Even with guns, ordinary people like us can't beat a magus."

"You know that's not an option." The second gunman replied. "If he finds out about that shipment, then we're all going to be croaking, no doubt about it."

"…it's really looking that way, damn it all."

Narrowing her eyes in recognition, Sakura reached out from Imaginary Numbers Space, picking up a fallen bottle and pulling it inside. Taking a drink to brace herself, she got up to her feet, and reinforcing her body, left Imaginary Numbers Space.

Before either gunman could notice, Sakura smashed the bottle over one man's head, and causing him to slip down, unconscious. Then grabbing the other man, she pulled him over the bar counter and threw him against the wall.

The gunman cried out as bottles broke and shattered glass bit into his flesh through his clothes. Falling to the ground, he gasped and frantically clutched at Sakura's leg as she placed a booted foot against his throat, adding ever so much pressure to demonstrate her position. At the same time, a mystic code slipped out of his clothes, hanging around his neck on a silver chain, no doubt what allowed him to enter and shrug off the effects of her bounded field.

Not that he knew it, of course. Sakura found that to be rather insulting.

"Tell me some more." She laconically said, eyes staring with menace into the gunman's below.

* * *

"CAULES!" Sakura shouted as she walked up to Caules' door, and banged repeatedly against it. "CAULES, ANSWER YOUR DOOR!"

A surprised yelp could be heard through the thick wood, followed by the sound of sock-covered feet on the floor and incomprehensible grumbling. Then there was sound of locks being turned and bolts being pulled back, and then the door was being opened. "Yes, Sakura?" he asked, sounding irate.

Unsurprising, really: given he was wearing pajamas, Caules must already have been ready to go to bed, or already was, when Sakura had come knocking.

"Your friend's in trouble." Sakura said without preamble.

Caules blinked, and then adjusted his glasses. "Which one?" he asked.

"The werewolf."

"…he's not a werewolf…not really…it's complicated…" Caules grumbled out a defense of his friend. "And what do you mean Svin's in trouble?"

Sakura immediately told Caules what had happened in the restaurant where she'd gone to eat dinner at. She told him how she saw Svin go through a dozen men with guns like a hot knife through butter, before legging it out of the place. She told Caules of the two late arrivals, the conversation she overheard, and then her interrogation of one of the men.

By the time she was finished, Caules was visibly agitated, and immediately ran back into the room, Sakura barging in unnoticed after him. Grabbing his phone, he dialed a number before pressing it to his ear, pacing worriedly as it rang several times before someone finally answered. "Hello…yes…yes, I know what time it is." Caules said. "Yes, and I'm sorry but this really can't wait! Yes…it's Svin! Apparently there's been a complication…uh-huh…yes…but…but…we can't just…really…it might be too late by then! My lord….? No…but…my lord…!"

Caules pulled away and stared at the phone in his hand, as the call was disconnected from the other end. "…I'm going to guess that was the stick in the mud named Lord El-Melon." Sakura remarked.

"…don't be so disrespectful." Caules murmured halfheartedly while replacing the phone on its cradle, and then weakly sitting on his bed.

"And I will." Sakura agreed with a nod, before walking over to sit next to him. Leaning closer, she reached over and massaged Caules' shoulders gently to try and get him to relax. "Once he gets rid of that stick up his ass…"

Then she trailed off, looking on with silent bemusement as Caules got up, and then stripping down to his underwear, opened his closet to pull out a fresh set of the Yggdmillennia uniform. Pulling it and his shoes on, he made to leave…

…and he boggled as he realized Sakura had never left.

"Were you watching?" he demanded in shock.

"Nothing I haven't seen before." Sakura said with a shrug. "We used to bathe together in that stream not far from…"

"That's not the point!" Caules exploded, before forcibly regaining his composure. "Never mind…look, I've got to go! Lord El-Melloi II might be willing to take the risk of Svin biting off more than he can chew, but not me!"

"…off to play hero, huh?" Sakura asked, sounding amused, though there was a serious look in her eyes. "Careful, Caules. This business Lord El-Melon is having you get involved in could get really complicated, really fast. Not to mention, we still have grandfather's orders to take care of."

"I know that!" Caules snapped, before turning to leave. "But even so…I can't just leave Svin all on his own. I won't…!"

Sakura silently stared after him as he strode past, and left the room. "Don't forget to take some backup with you, maybe a squad of homunculi or two!" She yelled after him.

"I will!" he shouted over a shoulder, and Sakura smiled. Alone now, she leaned back and swung her legs a few times through the air in thought.

"Now then," she asked. "What should I do now?"

* * *

It was an hour later when Caules could be seen storming with purpose along the London docks, a full squad of twelve homunculi marching in his wake. Polearms gleamed in the light of artificial lamps, Caules making use of mental interference to keep people from noticing.

Not that there were any to see past a certain point. It was already late in the night after all.

At least, right up until a sentry held up a hand for them to stop, wearing a flak vest over utilitarian civilian wear. A rifle was slung around his body, held relaxed but ready over his chest.

"Hold it right there for now, good chaps." He said, looking warily at them considering their strange, antiquated uniforms, to say nothing of their weapons. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Inside," Caules firmly if laconically said. "I've got business inside your compound, and you _will_ let us pass."

The last was laced with prana, but the man just shrugged it off, though he didn't seem to notice. Not that he seemed to be a magus, though.

_A mystic code, maybe? Provided by his employer…?_

"Uh-huh…" the man skeptically said. "And your name?"

"Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia." Caules said, which the man checked on a clipboard attached to his thigh by a magnetic clip. After a few moments, he began to bring up his rifle.

"…I think it's time for you to leave...GUUUUUUUUU-!" he began to say, only to seize up as Caules grabbed him by the arm and scrambled his nervous system. He made use of bioelectricity in his magecraft, after all. With hand contact, it was easy enough to manipulate one way or another the network of electrical impulses constantly running through the body's nervous system, magus or not.

The man could only gurgle as he went into seizures, before finally going limp as his brain shut down from the overload. Caules let him go, and he fell dead to the ground. Caules gestured at the homunculi behind him, and two of them stepped forward, and grabbing the dead man by the arms, dragged him off to be hidden in an out-of-the-way corner.

As they did that, Caules stepped forward, carefully opening the compound's wire fence door and then stepping through. A basic bounded field was over the compound to detect intruders, but Caules again used his magecraft to adjust his bioelectrical signature to generate a field around him to cancel out the effect, essentially rendering him a blank spot in the field's area-of-effect.

As for the homunculi, they had their own passive defenses to get past such a means of detection. They might be watered-down compared to their Einzbern brethren, but they were still ultimately born – in a way – of the same stock. Something as basic as this bounded field was nothing against them.

About ten minutes of sneaking around later, using crates and shipping containers both for cover and concealment, and Caules and his men found a commanding position. "There they are." He muttered, looking down on a small, Syrian-flagged container ship around which bustled armed men on patrol, while others were busy loading heavy crates.

Those same crates also gave off faint magical signatures which Caules could pick up even at this distance.

"…where's Svin in all this?" he muttered.

As though in response, a burst of gunfire erupted not far away, and the whole dock went up like an anthill getting kicked apart. Caules sighed.

"Me and my big mouth." He muttered, before turning to and giving orders to his homunculi.

* * *

Svin was sneaking through a warehouse, partly-transformed into his beast form the better to move quickly and quietly through cramped surroundings, as well as to better detect approaching enemies through an enhanced sense of smell. It served him well just minutes earlier, allowing him to get the drop on a pair of patrols, and breaking their necks in a couple of heartbeats.

It had been pure bad luck though, that one of them had had his finger on his gun's trigger when Svin had killed him, causing him to fire by reflex. Svin hadn't been hit, but now the enemy knew he was here.

And then he froze, his enhanced sense of smell picking up the scent of ozone, before leaping side with feral grace. An instant later, and what seemed like a bolt of lightning ripped through a dirty window across the warehouse, and blew a molten hole through the crate Svin had been standing in front of just moments ago.

Then Svin was on the move again, leaping and rolling forward and avoiding another bolt of lightning sent his way. Loping and leaping from one side to another on all fours like a beast, he dodged lightning bolt after lightning bolt, until one of the latter detonated a set of propane tanks kept inside the warehouse.

A gigantic fireball shook the warehouse in its entirety, shattering what windows weren't already broken, and blowing a hole through the roof. The barrage of lightning bolts came to a halt, if only because all the smoke and dust in the air inside the ruined warehouse played hell with the first stage of their mystic codes' operation.

Inside, Svin growled low in his throat, singed but otherwise unharmed, thanks to his transformation also doubling as a form of reinforcement in itself. Lying low on his belly, he waited for his prey like a predator, and he didn't have to wait long.

A pair of men slipped through the warehouse doors, barely hanging on their hinges from the damage dealt to the building. They crept through the burning and shattered ruins, not knowing that Svin was able to hear their every movement, and even use it to pinpoint their location.

Throwing a girder which had fallen nearby, Svin drew their attention further away. "What was that?" one of them asked.

"I don't know!" the other said. "Go check it out!"

"You check it out!" the first man said, and the second man looked at him in exasperation before shaking his head.

"Cover me." He just said, before stalking off, his shotgun held at the ready. The first man nodded, his pistol held low but ready to be brought up should he see a threat.

Svin waited until the other man was several feet away, all the while setting himself up to pounce, his spine coiling and compressing in on itself like a cat's. And then with a loud and feral growl, he leapt forward, the man with the pistol barely having time to turn his way before he connected.

They flew several feet across the warehouse interior, through a crate, and landed against a broken arm of metal that had the man crying out in pain. He screamed some more as Svin dug in with his claws, and again when after Svin literally ripped his ribcage out, before gurgling into dead silence from shock.

"DANNY!" the other man shouted, running away, and with a snarl Svin pounced away.

The man with the shotgun arrived, and swore at the top of his lungs as he spotted what had become of his friend. "YOU MONSTER!" he shouted, and spotting Svin's silhouette moving around him, turned and fired with his shotgun. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME?"

He fired again and again, buckshot sending sparks and debris flying, but never fast or close enough to endanger Svin. Then his shotgun clicked on empty, the man cursing as he hurried to reload. Svin didn't give him a chance.

Snarling like a beast yet again, Svin closed the distance, and burying his claws into the man's guts, ripped them out in long and bloody loops. The man cried out in agony, falling to his knees in shock, and struggled to pull out a dagger from his waist harness before collapsing to the floor, dead.

By now, the sounds of gunfire, men screaming, and Svin's own growls had been heard outside, and more men were sent in to investigate. This time, they carried the 'lightning guns' that were the focus of the mission Lord El-Melloi II had handed down to Svin, mystic codes that looked like some fusion of 18[SUP]th[/SUP] Century flintlocks and ray guns from a B movie in the 1960s.

They essentially operated like how particle weapons were supposed to work, first a laser opened a 'path' to the target by ionizing the air in a line, then a stream of electrons would follow that line to the target. The latter would appear like a bolt of lightning, hence the (unimaginative) name.

It was something modern science and technology could only truly perform in controlled environments like a laboratory, but magecraft was not so limited. And unfortunately, the enterprising magus behind them had come up with the (not so) bright idea of selling them to third-party organizations, such as South American criminal kingpins and African warlords.

With no concrete evidence that Mathies Groten had actually sold the weapons, and indeed, had waved away the presence of his mystic codes in…inappropriate, hands as someone having stolen his designs and was using him as a scapegoat while making money at his expense, Lord El-Melloi II had dispatched Svin to find out the truth. Was Groten actually the wronged party, as he proclaimed? Or was he really selling magic weapons to criminals and irregular troops, not just violating international arms regulations but risking the Masquerade itself?

Either way, Svin needed to sniff out and drag the truth into the light, one way or another.

And it was increasingly obvious it was the latter.

Snarling, Svin ripped up the floor, and slinked his way into the space between the floor and the actual ground. Letting his sense of smell guide him, Svin made his way under the two men, and then launching himself upwards, burst out from beneath and between the two men.

Claws flashed in the firelight as Svin ripped them apart, and then he dove for cover as bullets – mostly nine-millimeter but also including bigger rifle rounds – ripped through the front of the warehouse. Lightning bolts also rained down from overhead, a lightning gun adding more firepower to the barrage.

Svin stayed in cover, lying against the ground with his head covered protectively by his bloody hands. He waited until the incoming fire was done, and then he did a full transformation.

The Groten men were carefully approaching the ruined warehouse when a chunk of metal that must have weighed over twenty kilos went flying out of the interior. It struck a propane tank nearby, ripping it open with a shower of sparks, the latter igniting escaping gas and causing a massive explosion that had the men falling back. Then Svin was pouncing out, looking for all the world like a white-furred werewolf from a fairy tale, only his 'fur' was actually excited and concentrated prana.

Moving nearly too fast for the Human eye to follow unaided, appearing only as a blur of white to most, he closed the distance to and ripped three men to pieces in a matter of moments. Then grabbing a nearby vehicle by the bumper, Svin roared while pulling it closer, and using it as both a shield and a club literally smashed men and their cover aside while using the car's bulk to block incoming fire.

An explosion overhead briefly caught Svin's attention, even as his nose picked up the telltale stink of ozone. Before the lightning gun could fire though, the sniper's position had been blown apart by a burst of prana, and lifting his snout to sniff at the air, Svin couldn't help but give a bestial grin followed by a howl of delight.

He knew that scent, and in this state he felt only elation at the thought that his friend Caules had come to help, even if it was unsolicited.

Then he was bringing the car around again, as more men arrived, shooting guns from the back of a truck speeding towards him. Snarling at the constant rain of fire, Svin lifted the car overhead, feeling bullets slam into his chest, not enough to penetrate and really injure him thanks to his transformation, but he might be sporting some nasty bruises later on.

Then he threw the car at the truck. The two vehicles crushed into each other, outright killing the truck driver and sending the men on its back flying screaming. Their screams cut off abruptly as they struck concrete with a sickening crunch, and Svin howled in triumph.

The howl turned to one of pain though, as a lightning bolt struck him in the side and sent him flying. "_Filthy half-blood_" Mathies Groten spat in Afrikaans from on top of a crate, and then turning gestured to the ship's crew. "_Hurry and prepare to cast off! We need to get out of here, and fast!_"

The crew rushed to follow orders…

…and then shouting in alarm, men were rushing to the side of the deck, and opening fire with their guns.

* * *

Svin was hurting badly, and he could taste blood in his mouth. But he wasn't down and out just yet, and let the red haze of his magecraft's transformation take over. Howling loud and angry, he leapt forward, narrowly avoiding bullets falling around him like rain, which abruptly cut off before he leapt up and onto the crate that was being lifted up onto the ship.

Nearby, Svin could smell Caules and his family's homunculi, but he didn't care about that. Groten was right in from of him, and Svin would _not _let him get away. Whether with his crimes, or with spilling Svin's own blood.

Caules though, was having trouble of his own right then and there. Seeing the Groten men opening fire on Svin, he'd had the homunculi jump onto the ship, and there they were, wreaking havoc. Blood and body parts flew as the homunculi tore the crew and the gunmen apart with their polearms…

…but this also meant that Caules was left virtually undefended, as proven when he was unexpectedly kicked between the legs from behind.

Keeling forward and crying out in agony, he clutched at his privates and barely registered a feminine figure stepping around him. He looked up only to take a fist to the face, and sending him flying to the ground.

An elbow to the gut was accompanied by a counter magic spell that kept Svin from using any of his spells, before he found himself forced onto his belly with his arm held in a painful lock behind him. He felt the woman's knee dig into his back, and heard shouting in Dutch.

He couldn't understand, but he could guess the meaning as he saw a snarling and frustrated Svin forced to back away from a battered and bleeding Groten on the crate in the air…

…only for the weight on his back to abruptly vanish, his arm being let go, as the woman behind him was thrown away by a blur and a sensation of movement. Then agonized screams could be heard through the air, and rolling onto his rump, Caules turned and winced.

One of Sakura's Cerberi was there, the bronze hound animated by a bound spirit ripping out Groten's heiress' guts with its fangs. The woman screamed and struggled to push the automaton off of her, but it was too heavy, and soon her screams turned into a death rattle as blood erupted from her mouth, the magus convulsing as the hound simply ripped out and tore apart each and every organ in her abdominal cavity.

"ELINE…!" Caules heard Groten scream in loss, a scream cut short by an angry roar from Svin, followed by more screaming. Then the Cerberus was turning to Caules, blood and offal dripping from its bronze shell and fangs. It tilted his head in a manner reminiscent of its maker, and Caules shakily nodded as his homunculi returned and helped him to his feet.

"Thanks, Sakura." He said, and the hound made a sniffing gesture before continuing to savage Eline Groten's corpse.

Caules looked away. He did _not _want to see that. He did see Svin transform back to normal though, dragging a bloody Groten behind him, and on seeing him collapse from exhaustion, Caules immediately rushed over.

_Next…dealing with Lord El-Melloi II's…displeasure…oh boy…that's going to be fun…_

* * *

A/N

Despite the name, Sakura's 'Cerberus' hounds only have one head, not three.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 3

The London docks were swarming with activity. There were Enforcers and other operatives from the College of Law, as well as agents from just about every other department. There were familiars, automatons, puppets and spirits, and those with the eyes to see could perceive the shimmering, ethereal walls of magical power that were the bounded fields the magi had put up around the area to conceal their activities.

The crates of lightning guns were all confiscated, and taken away under guard. At present, they were under the care of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories, as their specialization made them best suited to safeguard such…contraptions, which fused magecraft with modern technology, but the crates themselves were sealed by the College of Law, the breaking of which entailed heavy penalty.

The bodies of the dead were taken away, for burial for the most part, though Eline Groten's corpse was taken away for autopsy. Her crest – along with the rest of her family's assets – were slated for confiscation and quarantine by the College of Law, accessible only to select magi previously vetted by that same branch of the Clock Tower. Other agents of the College of Law went through the records recovered from Mathies Groten's office and cabin inside the ship, and collected them for reference and later on, cross examination with other recovered materials from his family's properties and the like once they'd been dealt with.

Groten himself was taken away in chains by agents of the College of Law, counter magic mystic codes bound around his person, keeping him from using any and all forms of magecraft he could use in an attempt to escape. Injured, he'd received first aid, no more and no less, further treatment to be done in the confines of a holding cell, assuming the College of Law found it necessary.

And then there was Lord Waver El-Melloi II. Head of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories, and acting head of the El-Malloi lineage of magi, he had been the direct overseer of this operation, and it was with a veiled air of satisfaction that he watched Groten being take away.

That done, he approached those who actually took action on the ground. There was Caules, the white and gold of his family's uniform scuffed from the fighting. The same went for the uniforms of his family's homunculi, mixed with a good amount of blood from the butchery on the ship at harbor.

And then there was Svin, who'd lost his shirt along with the legs of his trousers. Bandages were wrapped tightly around one arm, over a shoulder, and the adjacent parts of his chest and torso. Bruises could be seen on exposed flesh, along with first-degree burns here and there, glistening with burn ointment.

Waver regarded them with a neutral expression on his face, and then sighing, stepped closer. He raised a hand…

…and bringing it down hard, whacked Caules on the head. The homunculi tightened their grip on their weapons, but said and did nothing. The mechanical, spirit-animated hound sitting on its haunches next to Caules bristled, its eyes brightening ever so slightly, but Waver paid them all no heed.

He'd seen better constructs, faced worse enemies before, and had come out on top regardless. He had no reason to be intimidated, none whatsoever.

"I thought I told you to leave it be." He said. "That I'd take care of it myself…or didn't I say so?"

"Yes, you did, my lord." Caules answered.

"Why did you disobey then?" Waver asked. "You know I have every reason to give you a formal reprimand, even an actual sanction. So, give me a reason why I shouldn't."

"Sir…Lord El-Melloi II…" Svin began, only to be silenced at a look from Waver.

"Well…?" he demanded from Caules.

Caules raised his head, making sure to meet Waver's eyes. "Because it was the right thing to do." He finally said.

Waver raised an eyebrow. "…is that seriously the answer you're going to give me?" he asked harshly. "That it was the 'right thing' to do…? Are you a magus or are you not? Do you really think reasoning like that is worthy of what you're supposed to be?"

"…then let me rephrase it." Caules said after a moment. "I…hypothesized, that your and your reinforcements' arrival would arrive too late. In response, I took action on my own initiative, and led my own group of reinforcements to assist."

"And…?" Waver prompted.

"…judging from the numbers of the opposition, plus how the incident proceeded," Caules continued after another moment. "My earlier hypothesis was correct. Should I have done nothing, then with all due respect my lord, you and your reinforcements would have arrived too late to do anything but collect Magus Glascheit's corpse…if even that."

"I see." Waver said with a slow nod, eyes narrowing. "Is there anything else you wish to say?"

"…I…I presume to say…" Caules hesitantly added after another moment. "That my actions have not only served to bring this incident to a favorable resolution, but have also prevented an escalation involving the potential death or critical injury of the Glascheit heir, and the loss of his family's crest."

"…and ensured that suitable resolutions will be implemented for the several other dead or critically-injured magi heirs from an earlier engagement considered as part of this incident." Waver said with a slow nod.

Stepping past, he patted Caules on a shoulder, before walking around the Cerberus, and pushing through the squad of homunculi behind them. "Good call, Caules." Waver said in passing, and walked off into the press.

As the lord stalked off, Caules let out a deep breath. "…thanks for coming, Caules." Svin expressed his gratitude yet again. "If you hadn't…well, like you told Lord El-Melloi II, I'm not really sure I'd have gotten out of this alive."

Caules nodded and then smiled at his friend. "What can I say?" he asked. "It's what friends do."

Svin laughed and nodded back. "It is." He said, before gingerly getting to his feet. "Now then…I think it's time we went home for the night, don't you?"

"Yes, I think so too." Caules agreed, before turning to the homunculi. Gesturing for them to go on ahead, the squad leader saluted before leading his squad back to the outpost. Turning to the Cerberus, Caules found it missing, and after a few moments of searching, found it slinking away. Shaking his head at the sight, Caules turned back to Svin. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

Svin nodded his thanks, and with a helping hand on an arm from Caules, began the journey home.

* * *

The Sun was shining through the windows of the Yggdmillennia outpost's mess hall on the following morning, and down over Sakura as she set her breakfast tray down on a table next to one of the windows. Then walking over to the drinks table, she selected a mug, and poured herself some freshly-brewed coffee. Adding milk and sugar, she stirred her coffee a few times, and returned to her table.

"Good morning, Sakura." Caules greeted her as she approached.

"Good morning, Caules." Sakura said, setting down her coffee but refraining from sitting down just yet, as it seemed that Caules had something he wanted to say. "Can I help you?"

To her surprise, Caules pulled her into a hug. "Thanks for last night." He said into her ear. "I really appreciate it."

"…you already said that last night." Sakura said after a moment, and returning the hug.

Caules nodded, and then pulled away. "True…but that was to a familiar…kind of…" he said before giving a cough. "I just want to say it in person, that's all."

Sakura nodded. "You're welcome, then." She said. "Though, I just did what I was supposed to do. We're family, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are." Caules agreed, and then taking the folder he'd set on a nearby table, handed it to Sakura. "Here…I worked on it all night."

"What's this?" Sakura asked curiously while taking the folder. Opening it, she blinked as she realized it for what it was. "This is…!"

"I think it should work as it is," Caules said with a yawn. "But you should review it just in case, regardless. I've attached my notes for reference's sake, and if you want, you can give it back to me so I can review your notes and changes in turn before we finalize anything."

Sakura leafed through the sheets of paper in the folder, and then nodding, closed the folder before storing it securely inside Imaginary Numbers Space. "Thanks, Caules." She simply said. "It's a big help."

Caules shrugged and smiled. "Hey," he said. "Like you said, we're family. So we should help each other out. If nothing else…grandfather will have our hides if we mess this up, so…let's do our best, and not get our hides tanned afterwards."

Sakura laughed and nodded in agreement. "Now then," Caules continued, walking forward and past Sakura while scratching the back of his head. "I'm going to get some coffee of my own. Like I said, I worked on that all night, and I barely got any sleep at all. And I've got of classes to attend today, good Lord…"

"Caules…"

"Hmm…?"

The young man paused and turned to look back…

…only to be pulled closer, and received a kiss on the cheek. "There," Sakura said with mock sternness, shoving him away gently by the small of his back. "How's that for motivation? Now, go get some coffee and breakfast, then we can talk some more about what you gave me just now."

"S-sure…" Caules stammered out, before hurrying off with his cheeks pink. Sakura snickered at the sight, and then shaking her head, sat down before taking a drink of her coffee.

* * *

"Excuse me…Mister…Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia, right?"

Caules turned to regard whoever it was who had addressed him by name, and found himself staring at a redhead of probably the same age as him. He wore casual clothes, of a more modern style than what most members and residents of the Clock Tower preferred, so while Caules didn't quite recognize him, he assumed this…stranger, was probably a fellow member of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories.

He looked rather familiar though, even if Caules couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"Yes," Caules said with a nod. "And you have the advantage of me, Mister…"

"Oh, that's right." The redhead said with a sheepish grin. "My name's Shirou Emiya, and I'm new here. Pleased to meet you, Mister Yggdmillennia."

_Shirou…Emiya…?_

_Oh…now I remember…_

_…so that's why he looked familiar._

_He's supposed to be one of the Masters of the Fifth Holy Grail War, and came here as an apprentice to Rin Tohsaka._

_Hmm…now what could he want?_

_Best to be on guard, just in case._

"Pleased to meet you too." Caules said, returning the bow Shirou gave. "And? Can I help you?"

"Hmm…" Shirou hummed uncertainly. "I hope you can, but I'm not sure you can."

"Oh?"

Shirou sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well," he began. "First, I'd like to apologize in advance in case I say something offensive, but rest assured, I didn't mean to cause it…"

Despite himself, Caules smiled at the earnestness. For some reason, the young man apologizing in advance in front of him reminded Caules of another one of his friends, one Flat Escardos.

_Maybe I should introduce them to each other one of these days?_

The moment the thought crossed his mind, Caules felt a shiver run down his spine, as though the cold hand of death was rubbing him on the back. "_On second thought,_" Caules told himself while carefully masking his face. "_That's probably not a good idea. And…oh, good Lord, please tell me there aren't two of them now._"

Caules jolted himself out of his worries on Flat finding a potential kindred spirit as Shirou finished his preempting any potential offense caused. "…your last name is Yggdmillennia, right?" he asked. "So…that means you're related to Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia, right?"

"…I suppose I am." Caules admitted. It was _technically _true, in the sense that Forvedge and Tohsaka – in part for the latter – were both branches of the Yggdmillennia family of magi. Though Tohsaka – at least for now – didn't have a drop of actual Yggdmillennia blood in their veins, a situation his grandfather intended to correct come the next generation, to better bind Tohsaka and what it offered to the rest of the family.

"Exactly," Shirou said with a nod. "So…what I'm going to ask might seem like I'm prying into family affairs, and I understand it's not my place to do that, but even so…"

"Just get to the point, Mister Emiya." Caules interrupted. He could guess what Shirou wanted to ask, given his relationship with one of the two members of the 'independent' Tohsaka line of magi.

"…Sakura," Shirou said after a moment. "I know she's…"

The conversation came to an abrupt halt as a blonde boy walking past nearby comically slipped…

_Was that a banana peel on the floor? Where'd that come from?_

…and spilled the towering stack of paper he was carrying in his arms all over the floor while falling on his back with a yelp.

Caules sighed, and hurried over to help. "Really, Flat?" he asked while gathering up the papers. "Weren't you looking where you were going?"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Flat Escardos repeatedly apologized with exaggerated gestures, before joining Shirou and Caules in picking up all the spilled papers. "It's just that I was in something of a hurry, and all these papers were making it hard to see, and then I overheard…um…who are you again?"

Shirou paused and gave Flat a friendly smile. "Shirou Emiya…pleased to meet you." He said, before extending a hand.

"Oh um…Flat Escardos…nice to meet you too, Mister Emiya!"

Once again, Caules felt a shiver run down his spine at the sight of Flat and Shirou shaking hands. And then Flat was turning back to him. "I overheard Mister Emiya here asking about your girlfriend, so…" he continued, only to trail off as Shirou interrupted in surprise.

"She's your girlfriend?" he asked.

"No…" Caules said with a sigh and a veiled glance of reproof at Flat. "She's not my girlfriend. She's my fiancée."

"WHAT?" Shirou asked, looking shocked. Flat though, just looked apologetic.

"Oh yeah…I forgot about that." He admitted, before smiling sheepishly. "Sorry."

Caules though, was looking at Shirou with an air of reproof. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"No…well…you're so young and…" Shirou stammered out.

"Magi usually marry young." Caules said with a shrug. "Better to have an heir and a spare ready early, just in case something happens in the near future. It's easier to have them too at a younger age, so there's that."

"I-I see…"

Caules looked at Shirou curiously, but stayed silent until they finished picking up and sorting all the papers. Only once Flat had hurried off did Caules turn back to Shirou. "Are you interested out of…personal, curiosity?" he asked. "Or are you a mouthpiece for your master?"

"…Tohsaka doesn't need anyone to speak for her, or her mother." Shirou shortly replied. "I'm just…concerned, about what looks like bad blood between…well, Rin and her younger sister."

Caules stared at Shirou for a long while, and then looked away. "It's not my place to tell." He said. "Though, I'm sure neither Sakura nor her…sister, will be able to keep dancing around the issue for too long. Sooner or later, they'll have to resolve it. And on their own: best not to get caught between them, Mister Emiya."

"…good advice…"

Caules hummed noncommittally, and then glanced at his wristwatch. "Sorry, Mister Emiya." He politely said with a raised hand. "But I've really got to go. I'll see you next time."

"Y-y-yeah…"

Caules nodded, and then briskly walked off, leaving Shirou alone by himself.

* * *

"Luvia, can I ask a question?"

Luvia looked curiously at Shirou. They were sitting in one of her private rooms, Shirou having come to see her after classes had ended for the day. Good timing, as it turned out, as Luvia would have to leave for the next two weeks to attend to business overseas.

"By all means," Luvia said while replacing her teacup on its saucer. "Though, I reserve the right to withhold answers should the question prove inappropriate."

"No…at least I don't _think _it's inappropriate."

"Oh?"

"…did you know Sakura was engaged to…um, what was his name again? Calls something Yggdmillennia…?"

"Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia…" Luvia corrected before narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her breasts. "Hmm…well now, that _is _a surprise, because I didn't know they were engaged. How did you find that out?"

"I ran into Yggdmillennia earlier, and decided to look into…well, Sakura and her background."

Luvia snorted and burst out laughing. "Only you, Shero." She said after her laughter had run its course. "Only you would ever be so bold as to walk up to a magus, and ask them up front about the circumstances and background of one of their relatives. Don't you know that doing so could be seen as a form of prying into family affairs?"

"I know." Shirou admitted sheepishly. "But I made sure to apologize – several times – beforehand."

"Hmm…well, I suppose it could pass under such a guard of honesty." Luvia conceded after a moment's thought. "You are a newcomer, of course, and that grants you some leeway. To an extent…Yggdmillennia dances back and forth between the Neutral and Meritocratic factions, and members of either are more inclined than others to tolerate or even indulge newcomers such as you."

"Really?"

"Yes," Luvia said with a smile. "For instance, my family, the Edelfelt, are of the Meritocratic faction. In all seriousness though, don't push your luck. That's just the general inclination of either faction, and individuals may not be so tolerant. And as far as the Aristocrats are concerned, you are below notice, sad enough to say."

Shirou made an unhappy noise, but otherwise said nothing. "…in any case," Luvia continued after another moment. "How did Forvedge Yggdmillennia respond to your prying?"

"…he said it wasn't his place to tell."

Luvia snorted and then laughed again, before shaking her head. "In other words," she said. "Mind your own business."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

Luvia hummed before raising an eyebrow. "And?" she asked. "If that's what Forvedge Yggdmillennia told you, how did you find out they were engaged?"

"Another magus ran into us," Shirou replied. "Literally…I think his name was Flat something."

"…Flat Escardos?" Luvia asked neutrally, before gesturing with a hand. "Blonde…about this tall…somewhat absentminded…?"

"…yeah, that's him." Shirou agreed before tilting his head curiously. "Do you know him?"

"…I suppose I do." Luvia said, looking away in a subtle gesture not to pry, and Shirou obliged. "And I suppose he let it slip. It would be very much like him too."

"Not…really…" Shirou said. "He overheard us talking, and my mention of Sakura's name. While we were helping him pick up his staff, he asked, and mentioned Sakura was Yggdmillennia's girlfriend."

Luvia snorted and shook her head again. "Typical Flat…" she muttered.

"…is he really that bad?" Shirou asked curiously.

"Get to know him," Luvia replied. "And then you tell me."

"I…see…anyway, Yggdmillennia corrected Escardos, and that Sakura wasn't his girlfriend, and actually his fiancée. And that's…pretty much it, actually."

"Hmm…" Luvia hummed while tapping her fingers against an armrest for several long moments. "Interesting…very interesting…I didn't know about this until now. Though, it certainly makes a good amount of sense. The Forvedge are among the few branches of the Yggdmillennia who actually have the blood of their founding family, and Forvedge Yggdmillennia is – if I remember correctly – the spare of his branch of the family. Not necessarily among the best of their magi, though he does have promise…marrying him to Tohsaka Yggdmillennia gives the offspring of the latter a bloodline link to the founding family, and since Tohsaka Yggdmillennia is already among their best, and Forvedge Yggdmillennia is quite promising himself, then said offspring would all but certainly surpass their parents."

Shirou didn't look too happy about the notion, though he already knew and understood this was simply how magi did things. He still didn't like it though.

"…who's the heir of the Forvedge Yggdmillennia then?" he asked instead.

Luvia shrugged. "Some young woman whose name I do not remember." She said. "I hear she's an absolute genius though, the kind that only appears once every century. That's probably one reason why she stays at Trifas in Romania, Lord Darnic must want to keep her safe and protected until he's absolutely certain she runs into no danger she can't possibly handle outside of their bounded fields."

Luvia paused and shrugged again. "Again," she said. "That makes sense. Yggdmillennia are, generally-speaking, a bunch of upstarts, parvenus, disgraced nobles, and lesser lineages who banded together for collective security and benefit. I don't really care, but there are those who might think the Lady Forvedge Yggdmillennia might just be 'too good' for her family, and take her into custody on that basis."

Shirou scowled at that, also knowing and understanding that such things did happen in magi society with alarming frequency. Luvia noticed, and smiled reassuringly. "I doubt that would happen." She said. "While most of his family are second or third-rate in most things, Lord Darnic is among the exceptions. At the very least, he plays the political game well enough to keep his family out of serious trouble."

"I see…Lord Darnic, eh?"

"…Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia…" Luvia said with a nod. "The head of the Yggdmillennia family…not actually a lord, per se, but he's called one for courtesy's sake."

"You sound like you respect him." Shirou noted.

"And I do." Luvia nodded. "I don't necessarily like him – nor do I necessary dislike him either – but I respect him. As I've said, he plays politics well, and from what I've heard he's a magus of above-average talent and achievement as well. He's certainly among the few who earned the rank of Brand out of skill and not out of…patronage."

Shirou looked taken aback by that, but said nothing. Luvia was silent for the next few minutes, staring out at the city of London in the twilight, a finger tapping at a slow and regular pace. "…I suppose it's not necessarily a bad match." Luvia eventually admitted. "Tohsaka Yggdmillennia and Forvedge Yggdmillennia…as I've said earlier, their pairing would satisfy the expectations of marriage between magi…"

"…and you care, why?" Shirou asked before taking a step back. "No offense…"

"None taken," Luvia reassured him. "As for why…has Rin explained to you our…relationship?"

"Yes," Shirou said with a nod. "You are second cousins, since your grandmothers were twin sisters."

"And since Tohsaka Yggdmillennia is her younger sister," Luvia said with a nod of her own. "That makes her my second cousin as well. It also makes her an Edelfelt as well, and thus my and my family's interest."

"…so you don't really mind?" Shirou asked.

Luvia shrugged. "No," she said. "No, I don't. It's a good match, and their children will be strong and gifted. Edelfelt's interest is satisfied."

"…that seems more than a bit callous to me." Shirou said softly, with a discreet glance elsewhere.

"Perhaps it is." Luvia conceded. "But that is how things work in our world. If you cannot accept that, then sorry to say Shero, but you will not succeed as one of us."

"Hmm…"

Again, silence fell, lasting as the twilight faded and gave way to the evening. Maids entered and lit gas lamps, and then left, leaving Shirou and Luvia to their solitude. "Come to think of it," Luvia asked with a small smile. "I must ask: why do you address Tohsaka Yggdmillennia by name while addressing others by their family name?"

"…well," Shirou uncomfortably answered. "Convenience, I guess?"

"Oh?"

"I call…my master, I guess, by her last name, and since both of them have the same last name…"

"Untrue," Luvia interrupted. "The latter has Yggdmillennia as her last name. For her 'Tohsaka' is a middle name."

"I know." Shirou admitted, before sighing. "But…that makes Tohsaka sad."

Luvia snorted. "I suppose it is only expected that the apprentice cares for the master's feelings." She said. "Though I would say you could do better."

"Wait, what?"

Luvia smiled and gestured dismissively. "It is of no concern." She said. "Though, I wonder, why is it you address me by name, and your master by her last name?"

Shirou looked miffed at that, and actually leaned closer to regard Luvia with narrowed eyes. "You _insisted_ I call you by your nickname." He said. "Several times, in fact."

Luvia burst out laughing. "That I certainly did, Shero." She said with a warm smile afterwards. "Ah…Shero…you truly are a breath of fresh air."

"Um…thanks…?"

Luvia just smiled wider. "You are welcome…always…Shero…" she said softly, and causing him to look at her curiously. She only waved him off though. "As I've said, it is of no concern…for now."

"I…see…"

* * *

A/N

Didn't see that twist coming, did you?


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 4

_One Month Ago_

"…finally done." Sakura breathed in relief, setting down her fountain pen before sinking back into her seat. "Thank God…I hate doing blood magic."

Or so she said, but when it came to her specializations, blood magic was practically unavoidable. When all was said and done, when it came to summoning spirits, blood was the most common and useful medium she had available. Thankfully though, her having Imaginary Numbers reduced that dependency up to a point, once summoning gave way to binding.

And it could be so much worse too.

She could have been born a man, and semen was an even more potent medium than blood. Two liters of blood versus two liters of semen…

…she'd go with two liters of blood drawn from her own veins instead, even if the other option were available.

Still…

"…two liters of blood, my God." Sakura mourned. "I'm honestly surprised I haven't come down with anemia with all the blood I use in my magecraft."

"Pretty sure that's why the family doctors have been prescribing you iron supplements for…as long as I can remember." Caules said, from where he was double-checking the arrays Sakura had drawn on papyrus with ink based on her own blood. "That, and why grandfather made sure you had a taste for red meat."

"…there are worse thing to have a taste for." Sakura dryly remarked a moment later.

Caules hummed and shrugged. He then returned to the arrays, a modified form of what he'd prepared and presented to Sakura a week ago. Sakura had recalibrated that array to take into account her higher prana output compared to Caules, and using her own output as a base, did the same for the expected prana output of the enemy the array was meant to contain.

She'd then incorporated an Imaginary Numbers function into the array, so as to dump recycled prana into Imaginary Numbers Space instead of returning it to the Greater Source, and denying it to the enemy. Thus modified, the array was then returned to Caules, who modified it further to take into account Sakura's own modifications. The elemental transmutation functions were reconstructed to better conduct recycled prana, adjusted the counter-actualization function to match, and refined the activation function.

A final check by Sakura led to no further revisions, at which point she'd proceeded to the next part of the work. And she had to do it herself, for optimal performance when the array was called on.

Specifically, she needed twenty-five copies of the array, drawn on papyrus for its greater ability to store and conduct magical energy even when compared to parchment. Much less modern paper, which was nearly useless. For optimum performance, she used her own blood as the base of the ink used to draw the array, alchemically-enriching it with iron filings before being reinforced. This meant that the ink was saturated with Sakura's prana, and the arrays attuned for her to use.

"…looks good to me." Caules finally said, before walking over and patting Sakura on the back. "Look on the bright side, this is the easy part."

"Hmm…"

Grabbing the nearest sheet of papyrus, Sakura wrapped it around a twelve-inch long stake of iron, and one made by a blacksmith and not in a modern and soulless industrial foundry.

"Flow," she whispered the first part of her aria. "Into darkness."

Blue lines glowed over her hand as her magic circuits lit up, and then the array seemed to glow a burning red through the papyrus, before they seemed to _melt _into the iron stake. Sakura set it aside, then taking another sheet of papyrus, wrapped it around another stake. "Flow, into darkness." She said, and incorporated the array into the stake again.

Rinse and repeat.

"One month," Caules remarked as she watched Sakura place the completed mystic codes inside Imaginary Numbers Space to 'soak' in her mysteries. "That should be enough, shouldn't it?"

"It should be." Sakura said with a touch of worry. "Grandfather will be getting impatient by then."

"…the rest will be up to you." Caules eventually said, before giving an encouraging smile. "Don't worry. It'll work out. The simulations put the probability of success at eighty-seven per cent."

"Hmm…true…let's hope reality reflects that."

"I'm sure it will, Sakura."

"Hmm…"

* * *

_The Present Day_

"Shirou…!"

Shirou looked up at the sound of his name being called, then giving a smile as two of the friends he'd made at the Department of General Fundamentals approached. As much as magi could be friends, of course…though, that said Norman Cantrell and Lucy McDowell seemed the decent sort, not just as magi, but as people too. While they wouldn't talk about the details of their magecraft, they didn't pry into Shirou's either, though they were willing to talk generalities and even help (and be helped) with shared problems presented during their classes here at the Clock Tower.

Were Shirou more cynical, he'd probably consider such amiability on their parts being born of the fact that neither of their families were particularly old. Both the Cantrell and McDowell lineages apparently dated back only to the latter part of the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] Century, and had started off as magi by using fragmentary lore taken by a shared ancestor as loot from a burned-out mansion in the American South during the civil war to get a head start when settling down afterwards in the Midwest.

Even now, the magecraft of both families was somewhat…agricultural, in nature, apparently.

But Shirou wasn't particularly cynical by any stretch of the imagination. He knew enough not to blindly trust, but that didn't mean he was unwilling to be friends. So long as he was careful with what he said and heard, that should be enough.

"So this is where you've been hanging out?" Norman asked, looking around at the park Shirou was sitting at. It was one of the smaller parks in London, but it was well-tended, and the few other people in the park weren't so rowdy as to disturb the ambiance of the place. In short, it was a good place to study and work on schoolwork when not at the Clock Tower.

Even more so, as it was only a few minutes' walk away too.

"Professor Wyatt was looking for you." Norman continued after a moment, looking at Shirou with a wry smile.

"Again?" Shirou asked, setting aside the laptop he'd taken to carrying around and working with recently.

"He asked us to bring you to him immediately." Lucy said with a matching smile. No surprise there, given they were third or fourth cousins, and had even grown up together apparently. Not enough to be close as siblings, though.

That certainly helped taking the fact they were engaged to each other at face value.

"What's this all about though?" she then asked. "Helping him out with something else again?"

"Seriously?" Shirou said with a sigh and gathering up his written materials. "I haven't even finished the stuff he handed to me yesterday."

Snickering between them, Norman and Lucy approached before leaning in to look at what Shirou had been working on for their professor. "Advanced molecular analysis and in-depth property determination…?" Norman asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Shirou said.

He let them read the draft over, obligingly scrolling the page up to let them see what he'd already done. Norman whistled after only a few paragraphs. "I knew you had a gift for structural analysis," he said. "But damn, this really drives it home."

Shirou just hummed noncommittally, while Lucy and Norman both leaned back. "Structural analysis…?" she thoughtfully said. "I wonder what specialization you can take that into?"

"Not a clue, though Mineralogy seems like a good bet to take further studies in once Shirou's stint in General Fundamentals is done." Norman remarked. "Assuming Shirou here doesn't just plan to go back home to Japan like we are back to America once our five-year course is done."

"True…" Lucy agreed with a nod. "Though, Botany or Archaeology might also be a good choice."

Norman nodded back before gently nudging Shirou. "…more importantly," Norman said. "What do you think, Shirou?"

"Eh…I'd probably just follow my master into Mineralogy." Shirou answered, while saving his work and then minimizing the page, closed his laptop before sliding it into his bag followed by his written materials. "Though she also suggested Modern Magecraft Theories could work too, me being a first-generation, and all that."

"Well, that's true." Norman said, before beginning to walk away. "Anyway, let's go. We don't want to keep the professor waiting, would we now?"

"Yeah, I know." Shirou agreed, slinging his bag over a shoulder and following in their wake.

* * *

"I'm telling you, it's not like that!"

"Really? You're lying!"

"Come on, why don't you just admit it?"

"Yeah…!"

"Like I said…"

"Huh? Lucy…!'

"Hi!" Lucy cheerfully greeted another trio of magi as they approached one of the Clock Tower's entrances. Immediately, they swept towards her, and forming a ring around themselves, started chatting and gossiping and laughing away without a care, essentially acting like the stereotype of women their age.

Raising an eyebrow at the faint expression of confusion on Shirou's face, Norman nudged him with an elbow. "Something wrong?" he asked softly.

"Not…really…" Shirou hesitantly said, and likewise speaking softly. "It's just…surprising, that's all. Well…I've seen it before, but I'm still trying to connect the dots, so to speak."

"Let me guess…how despite being magi they still act like flighty young ladies every once in a while?"

"Pretty much."

Norman laughed and patted Shirou repeatedly on the back. "Well," he said. "Look at it this way. Men like us have been struggling to figure out how women think for thousands of years now, but we've never succeeded, and I doubt we ever will. It's one of the greatest mysteries of the world, and will likely stay a mystery even when magecraft disappears once and for all."

"…did you just say 'women are a mystery' but in magecraft terms?"

"Is something wrong with that?" Norman asked.

"Not really," Shirou said with a scratch of his head. "But it's the first I've heard anyone put it like that."

"First time for everything, Shirou." Norman pointed out.

"Fair enough." Shirou conceded, though they broke off and turned to Lucy as she called for their attention.

"You two go on ahead." She said. "I'll catch up later. We still have a lot to talk about, you see."

"Alright then." Norman said with a wave while walking towards the entrance. "See you later, Lucy."

"Bye." Shirou said with a wave of his own as they passed by.

"Bye, see you later, you two." Lucy said before turning back to her friends. "Anyway…how about we skip class this morning, and go to Marchant's before we go shopping? They might still have those parfaits they're making for a limited time."

Looking over a shoulder in open-mouthed disbelief at what he was hearing, Shirou glanced censoriously at Norman, who absolutely refused to dignify what he'd also heard with a response. Shaking his head in disbelief, Shirou also just decided to keep on his way.

* * *

"Good day, everyone…!" Norman exuberantly said as they entered the semi-private workshop Professor Wyatt had allowed them access. A large, cylindrical construct was in the middle of the room, connected by a rat's nest of tubes and cables to mystic codes of all kinds set up on tables around a wide space centered on the construct.

There was only one magus in the room, and briefly gave Norman and Shirou a nod before returning to his work. Then a blonde head popped up from behind a table, and rising to his full height, Flat Escardos gave a face-splitting grin. "Oh, Shirou!" he said. "You finally made it!"

Shirou gave a sheepish smile, still not quite sure how to deal with Flat. Oh, he seemed nice enough, but something just seemed…_off_, about him. That, and he somehow managed to figure out what Shirou was capable of only by watching him do it once.

_"Trace on!"_

_Shirou held out his hands, prana glowing between his fingers, and after a moment coalesced into a replacement crucible for the one Flat had accidentally broken after falling down the stairs. The young man himself was unharmed, but was naturally despondent at having lost valuable equipment and worried at how 'Professor Waver' would react on hearing about it._

_It wasn't just a crucible which had broken, but ten, along with twenty-four test tubes, five Erlenmeyer flasks, and another five graduated cylinders as well. Nothing was in them, thankfully, but that still meant a pile of broken glass and china strewn out over marbled floors and of no use to anyone._

_"There you go." Shirou said with a smile, and placing the last replacement into Flat's box which he then pushed into the curious-looking boy's arms. "Don't worry about the broken pieces. I'll take care of that."_

_Flat just tilted his head. "Thanks…" he began. "But…how'd you that?"_

_"Do what?"_

_"That." Flat said, glancing down into his box. "I mean…it can't be projection, because projected objects don't last long, but you say yours last for a long time, and I can see that…but it also looks like projection, because it works the same way, that is you take your prana, shape it into the form you want to have, and solidify it, only it's solid and real instead of being hollow and empty on the inside, but it can't be projection because…"_

_Shirou could only stare as Flat went on and on in a seemingly-endless run on sentence on how what Shirou did was but also wasn't projection. "Um…" Shirou said with a hesitant raise of his hand, not sure whether he should interrupt Flat or not. "Don't you have somewhere to be right now?"_

_"Oh right!" Flat said with a jolt, and then grinning at Shirou with such cheerful honesty and gratitude that Shirou felt bad at ever having thought negatively in any way about him. "Right, right…sorry about that…and thanks again! I'll be sure to tell Professor Waver about you, I'm sure he'll be very happy to reward you for your help! Thanks again!"_

_"No…I…" Shirou began, only to trail off as Flat simply ran off. "…what…what just happened?"_

To his credit, Lord Waver El-Melloi II hadn't raised much of a fuss over what Flat had told him about Shirou's magecraft (which in hindsight he really should have not used so casually, helping people or not). Though, Shirou wasn't sure what to think about the 'reward' Lord El-Melloi II had given him.

For some reason, whenever he had free time and wasn't with his other friends, Flat was now running errands for and hanging around Shirou in the Department of General Fundamentals. And Shirou was starting to understand why Luvia had refused to tell him – much – about Flat.

Apparently, you had to know him personally to really know about him. There just…_wasn't_, any way to describe him that would do him justice.

That said, Lord El-Melloi II's written reasoning was rather telling.

_Since you seem to have gotten off on the right foot with Flat, and he seems to like you for some reason, he can help you when he's got nothing better to do over here. Consider it thanks for your…replacement, of lost laboratory equipment. And I assure you that your confidence in my ability to be discreet will not be misplaced. _

_Have a good day, _

_Lord Waver El-Melloi II._

_P.S. Try to keep Flat out of trouble. He seems to have a bad habit of accidentally running into it._

_P.P.S. Do you have medical insurance? No…? It might be a good investment to get one at this point._

Shirou blinked and jolted himself out of his recollections when Flat bounded over the desk – and its mystic codes – before speeding over to him. "The professor told me to hand you this." He said while handing Shirou a mystic code shaped like a vinyl record. "Do you know what's on it? I assumed it's got something to do with this…um, what's it called again?"

"A compression furnace…" Shirou said while uncertainly handling the record in his hands, before giving a sigh and slumping his shoulders. "Seriously…? Damn it…is there a record player around here? No…then we need to find one…I don't believe this…"

Tossing his bag gently on a nearby desk, Shirou stalked off to find a player to access the mystic code with.

* * *

"General Fundamentals?" Caules echoed in surprise. "What's Flat doing there? And seriously? Lord El-Melloi II actually let Flat out of his direct supervision?"

Svin looked unimpressed, and even narrowed his eyes at Caules while leaning across the table. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Caules met his gaze evenly. "You know what I mean." He said. "Do you remember when he fell into that mineshaft? And then there was that incident with the ruby rod and the ladies' room, just off the top of my head."

Svin visibly fidgeted before giving up. "Alright, I get what you mean." He finally conceded. "But things do tend to work out for him. The ghouls at Marseilles were just as surprised as he was when the floor collapsed, and we'd have walked right into those automatons in Budapest if he hadn't set off the flash bomb by kicking a rock down the hallway…"

The transforming magus trailed off as he realized what he was saying. "…anyway," he continued after a moment. "From what I hear, Lord El-Melloi II has Flat helping out a certain Shirou Emiya. Apparently he's a newcomer, and a first-generation at that. Seems like Lord El-Melloi II has an interest in him, but since he's with General Fundamentals, he can't do much more than that…for now."

"Shirou…Emiya…?" Caules echoed, and then looked down in thought after Svin nodded. After a few more moments, Caules then looked around the café they were in. Most of the tables were empty, though a trio of middle-aged magi were enjoying brandy and cigars around a table across the room. And in a distant corner, a quintet of magi only a few years older were being raucous over their lunch while passing around dirty magazines.

Caules scratched a cheek while taking a drink of after lunch coffee. "…you think Lord El-Melloi II will pull strings to get Emiya to transfer to our department?" he finally asked.

"I don't know." Svin admitted. "But it is possible, seeing as he sent Flat over of all people."

"…Emiya must inspire quite the confidence," Calues mused. "If Lord El-Melloi II is willing risk Flat running around on his own in another department."

Svin hummed his agreement, while Caules took another drink of his coffee. "_Shirou…Emiya…_" he thought. "_Master of Saber…and apparently the one who defeated Einzbern's Master during the Fifth Holy Grail War…just how did a first-generation defeat an heiress to a family that goes back over a thousand years…?_"

Caules narrowed his eyes, and took another drink. "Hey…" he began.

"Hmm?" Svin hummed in acknowledgement. "Need something?"

"I need to talk to Flat about something important." Caules said. "If you see him before I do, can you pass it on?"

"Um…sure. What's it all about though?"

"…something I heard about Emiya, that's all." Caules admitted after a moment. "If Lord El-Melloi _is _interested in him, it might be useful to have the whole picture, right?"

"…I suppose." Svin agreed after a moment. "Alright, if I see him before you do, I'll be sure to send him your way."

"Thanks, Svin. You're the best."

"No problem, Caules."

* * *

"Hey, Caules!" Flat yelled while running down the corridors of the Department of Modern Magecraft Theories, one hand raised high overhead, waving wildly. Students, faculty, and staff stepped out his way with neither a word nor any indication of concern. It was a familiar sight by now, with even newcomers to the department quickly getting used to its resident genius (and maniac). "Svin told me you were looking for me?"

"Yeah…" Caules said while looking around, and then finding an empty classroom, placed an arm around Flat's shoulder to lead him inside. "Why don't we talk someplace private?"

"Okay."

Once they were safely inside, and Caules had set up a bounded field to keep anyone from eavesdropping, he turned to Flat. Flat though, spoke up first. "If this is about Shirou Emiya," he began. "Sorry Caules, but Professor Waver told me not to say anything about whatever Shirou let slip to anyone but him, not even other lords for as long as possible. Or something like that…"

Predictably, Flat ruined the serious moment by going off on a tangent, while trying to remember what else Waver had told him. Caules stared, and then sighed before adjusting his glasses. "Alright then," he said. "What can you tell me about him?"

"Well…he's a really nice guy." Flat cheerfully said. "He's polite, friendly, hardworking, and very honest. Oh, and did you know he's a very good cook? He brought food with him for his study group at General Fundamentals once, and they shared it with me. It was really good, and we were all really surprised when he told us that he only really started cooking western cuisine recently. Amazing…! And…"

Caules stared as Flat went on and on about how Shirou was such a good friend to have, and finally pinched the bridge of his nose. "…is that all?" he asked as Flat came to an end.

"Sorry, Caules." Flat said with an apologetic smile. "But like I said…"

Caules hummed and nodded in acceptance as Flat trailed off. "Yeah, I know." He said. "But I had to ask."

"Why, though?" Flat asked. "Why so interested in him?"

Caules considered what to respond with for a long moment, and then smiling, placed a hand on Flat's shoulder. "Since you were honest to me, I'll be honest with you too." He said. "You see, Emiya's master, Rin Tohsaka, is my fiancée Sakura's older sister. I'm sure you can connect the dots on your own from there."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Caules said before sighing and dispelling the bounded field. "Anyway, if that's all you can tell, we should get going."

"Caules…?"

"Yes…?"

"Thanks," Flat said with a smile. "For not pushing."

Caules smiled back and nodded. "Come on," he said. "Let's get going."

"Okay."

* * *

Reality rippled as Sakura pulled out the case containing the twenty-five iron stakes she'd prepared over a month ago, and had let 'soak' in her mysteries within Imaginary Numbers Space for that same amount of time. Placing the case on her desk, she opened it, and removing the stakes one by one, examined them for any possible defects they might have developed. They shouldn't have, given the properties of Imaginary Numbers Space, but still: it didn't pay to be careless.

A series of knocks came through her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"It's me, Caules." The reply came.

"Enter."

The door opened and closed, Caules slipping in before joining Sakura at her desk. Looking down at the stakes, he prodded one with a finger, before looking at Sakura. "Seems like all the preparations that can be made are made." He said.

"Hmm…not yet…" Sakura said. "I want to run checks on all my familiars and automatons. We've prepared eighteen different tactical plans for my confrontation with my sister, and all of them involve the deployment of either or both familiars and automatons to various degrees. Let's not get careless."

"Point…will you kill her?"

"If I have to." Sakura immediately said. "Though I'd prefer not to. She's still my sister after all…my older sister…that will never change, even when our plan goes through."

"Don't you mean _if _our plan goes through?" Caules asked.

"No…_when_ our plan goes through." Sakura corrected. "There's no room for 'if'. We need to take her down, and take from her what we need to claim grandfather's prize. We have no choice, otherwise everything our family has sacrificed and struggled to come this far will be for nothing. Everything follows from there."

"Hmm…good luck, then…"

Sakura looked at Caules curiously. "Not going to help me run my checks?" she asked. "It'd take all night by myself, and I need to sleep too, if I'm going to be at my best."

Caules laughed. "Even if I helped you," he said. "It'd still take the better part of the night to finish."

"True…" Sakura admitted. "But I can just sleep in tomorrow, if it comes to that. So, how about it?"

Caules laughed and nodded. "I thought you'd never ask." He said, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves. "So…when and where do we start?"

Sakura smiled, and reality rippled.

* * *

A/N

Time skip and preparations, for the duel of fates.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 5

It all started with a simple slap.

The sound of velvet striking flesh echoed across the entire foyer of the Clock Tower's Department of Mineralogy. It drew stares in its direction, first in surprise, which then turned into awed realization and anticipation. Whether they were students, faculty, or staff, they all knew what would come next.

Rin was in shock, unable to move her head from the position it had been forced into by Sakura's glove striking her cheek out of sheer disbelief at what had just happened. Then she heard velvet striking the ground, and slowly turning her head, stared at Sakura before looking at the ground, and the velvet glove lying there on the marbled floor. Raising her head, she stared at her younger sister's impassive face, Rin's mouth working wordlessly as she struggled to speak.

Nearby, a surprised Luvia narrowed her eyes, as she thought back to a conversation from over a month ago.

_"So you will leave her be?"_

_"Yes." Rin said with a nod. "If Sakura needs time to prepare to talk to me…then I will give it to her."_

_"…and…if she was simply being polite…" Luvia asked._

_Rin clenched her fists. "…if…if she…" she stammered out. "…if she doesn't even want to talk to me…to even be near me ever again…then so be it…if that's what makes her happy…then alright…for her sake…I'll let her be happy…"_

_"…and you are alright with that?" Luvia asked after a moment._

_Rin snorted in self-deprecation. "That's the way it's been for over ten years now." She said. "Besides…even before then…as a child…I was prepared to stop thinking of her as family…to live the rest of my life without her…to know and understand that I no longer…never had a sister…what difference does it make?"_

_"…is that really what you think?"_

_Rin wiped at her eyes, and took a deep breath. "…I'm a magus." She finally said, and Luvia closed her eyes in acceptance._

_"Indeed."_

Now, Luvia looked around, at the people crowding the Department of Mineralogy's foyer. There were guards, who'd surrounded Sakura the moment she'd entered, not being a member of the department, and indeed, had challenged her as to her business within the department. It had been a guard which had summoned Rin to the foyer to receive Sakura, as the latter had stated that she had business with the former. Luvia had tagged along, and as usual, word spread quickly through the rumor vine, that a member of the Department of Spiritual Invocation had stepped onto the threshold of the Department of Mineralogy.

Those who had come to see and hear with their own eyes and ears now whispered excitedly and conspiratorially with each other, with even the guards now looking solemn and expectant. They didn't have to wait for long. "I challenge," Sakura spoke firmly and loudly, one hand on her saber's pommel, resplendent in Yggdmillenia white, gold, and black. "Sixth Tohsaka Magus Rin, for the right to lead and to bear our family's crest!"

Rin just kept on staring, but after a moment, seemed to recover. She looked frantically from one side to another, as though seeking any sympathy, but there was none. There was only silence now, and the expectant and judging eyes of her fellow magi. "Pick up my glove, Rin." Sakura prompted, and drawing Rin's eyes back to her. "Or be held craven and unworthy of your rank and status."

Rin licked her lips, eyes silently pleading with Sakura, but Sakura just stared at her impassively. Left with no other choice, Rin briefly closed her eyes, a pair of tears flowing out and down her cheeks, before she sank down and picked up Sakura's glove. "…what are your terms?" she ground out.

"The victor shall be the rightful bearer of the Tohsaka Magic Crest, and by extension, head of the family." Sakura immediately said. "The victory condition shall either be a combatant yielding, or is otherwise rendered unable to continue the duel."

"…I accept your terms," Rin finally said. "And I accept your challenge."

Sakura stood to attention and gave a Roman salute. "Then I look forward to our confrontation," she said. "At sunset, at your chosen venue."

"Very well…and our seconds?" Rin asked.

"My second shall be Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia." Sakura said. "Yours?"

Rin didn't answer at once, instead looking over a shoulder at the stoic Luvia. She'd have preferred Shirou, but he wasn't here. And outside of Shirou…she didn't really have anyone apart from Luvia she could really call her friend.

After a long moment, Luvia gave a near-imperceptible nod, and Sakura turned back to Rin. "My second shall be Luviagelita Edelfelt." She said.

Sakura nodded. "I bid you well, then, until this evening." She said, before smartly turning to leave. Rin stared after her, and ignoring the murmurs and whispers around her slumped her shoulders. A moment later, and Luvia was there, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Rin glanced at her, but Luvia said nothing. She just looked at Rin with a sympathetic look on her face, and after a moment, Rin looked away.

* * *

Shirou burst into Rin's workshop with a concerned expression on his face. Anyone else would have been violently repulsed by her bounded fields, but Shirou had long been keyed into them, and they allowed him entry with no issue.

"Is it true?" he asked without preamble. "Are you really going to duel your sister?"

Rin looked up from where she was examining a large pile of gems on her worktable. She looked at Shirou with various emotions warring on her face, ranging from anxiety, apprehension, fear, frustration, and resignation. In the end, it was the last which emerged victories. "…yes." She finally said. "I will."

Shirou's face twisted in frustration, letting out an unhappy sound while running a hand through his hair. "How did it come to this?" he snarled.

"…it was inevitable, I suppose." Rin said softly, turning back to her gems and selecting the ones she would take into battle. "So long as she bore the Tohsaka name…so long as she didn't have the crest…when she and I are qualitatively equal in our ability to perform magecraft…she would have risen to challenge me for the right to lead and to bear the crest."

Rin paused and laughed bitterly. "That was why father decided to cast her out in the first place." She said. "By taking on the burden and responsibility of another family, she would never have cause to challenge me. But because she still remains a Tohsaka…"

"…is she?" Shirou interrupted. "She is Yggdmillennia."

Rin shook her head and looked at him helplessly. "Yes…she is." She said. "But she also remains Tohsaka. She also remains of our blood. Her claim remains valid."

"…will you kill her then?" Shirou asked softly.

Rin froze, and then visibly trembled. "…if I must…then…" she said shakily.

Shirou shook his head. "This is messed up." He said with a voice heavy with frustration. "Sisters fighting each, and to the death no less, just for something like a magic crest. It's really messed up."

"…it's what she wants." Rin said, supporting herself against the table. "If only…if only she'd become a Matou…then this wouldn't have happened…even your friend Shinji would have avoided what would have happened to him…but because Sakura chose to be selfish…because she ran into Yggdmillennia…because she allowed herself to become what they wanted her to be…"

Shirou looked at Rin with a mix of confusion and disagreement. "…even if she had a share of the fault…" he eventually said. "…it's not all hers…it can't be…"

"I know." Rin said with a sigh. "But still…"

She trailed off, and took another deep breath. "In any case," she said. "While I will…kill, if I must…if I can avoid it…then…"

"…what will you do to her if you win?" Shirou asked.

"What indeed…" Rin murmured, and returned to selecting her gems.

* * *

"…you are here as well, Flat?" Waver remarked as he approached the area reserved for high-ranking officials along the edge of the arena seats. "That's a surprise. I never expected you'd be the sort to be interested in this kind of affair."

"I'm here to support my friends, professor." Flat replied. There was a strange note to his voice though, and which had Waver raising an eyebrow.

"You sound conflicted." He observed.

Flat briefly lowered his head. "Caules is my friend." He eventually said. "And he is the second for his cousin. But, Shirou's my friend too. And his master is fighting Caules' cousin. I…I'm not sure how to feel about that."

Waver didn't say anything at first. Instead, placing a hand around Flat's shoulders, he guided the younger magus to stand with him in the reserved section, silencing familiars and dismissing warnings from the bounded fields protesting the inclusion of a non-ranking individual in the area.

"…feel free to feel whatever you want about this." Waver finally said. "At the end of the day, we magi are still Human. And it's perfectly Human to feel conflicted about what we are about to witness."

"But…"

Waver nodded with a hum. "Yes," he said. "We are magi. And what we are about to witness is also a part of what we are."

"…it's a paradox." Flat remarked.

"Yes, it is." Waver said, before tightening his grip on Flat's other shoulder. "But, the duelists prepared for what is to come of their own free will, and will put their lives on the line. Let us respect that at least, and bear witness to their trial."

"…professor…why are you here?" Flat asked after a few moments. "Neither Tohsaka nor her sister are of our department. Even if Tohsaka Yggdmillennia is Caules' cousin, surely that's not reason enough…is it?"

"…I fought against Tokiomi Tohsaka during the Fourth Holy Grail War." Waver said after a moment. "Never personally, but just by my own involvement in that contest, I was his enemy. And among the magi present, he was second only to Lord Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald."

Flat stared at Waver, who wore an inscrutable expression on his face. "At least," he continued after a moment's pause. "That's what I considered him to be. Since I never fought him myself, who knows what his skills were like."

"…you want to watch his children fight," Flat softly said after a few moments' thought. "And from their abilities, see for yourself how strong their father was."

"Yes."

"But…shouldn't they surpass him?"

"They should…but even they had to start from somewhere." Waver said. "It's all a matter of inference."

"I see."

Teacher and student turned back to the arena below, its walls reinforced and surrounded on all sides by powerful bounded fields to protect the audience from becoming collateral damage. The duelists were already there, Rin Tohsaka in her black sports bra and bloomers, hair tied back in a ponytail. Behind her, her second Luviagelita Edelfelt was in her usual dress of blue brocade and white lace, her blonde hair curled as elaborately as ever.

On the opposite side of the arena, Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia was in her family uniform, a white, long-sleeved jacket with gold embroidery and ornamental buttons in front with rank stripes over the cuffs and shoulders, worn over black trousers and boots. A saber was clipped to her belt, and her hair was tied back into a bun. Behind her, her second Caules Forvedge Yggdmillenia stood in a similar uniform.

As clocks struck the time, both seconds stepped forward, while the audiences stilled and fell quiet. The seconds iterated the rules and conditions of the duel, to which the duelists sounded their agreement. The seconds looked at each other, and nodded.

"Begin!" they shouted while springing back.

* * *

"Flow, into darkness!" Sakura cast, magic circuits flickering over her body.

Rin was faster, needing no aria to reinforce her body. Moving fast enough to crack the floor beneath her feet and to displace the surrounding air, she sprang forward, fist drawn back to end the fight as quickly as possible.

Sakura just fell back, literally falling to the ground…

…and to the sound of gasps and shouts of disbelief from the audience, disappeared into her own shadow. "WHAT?" Luvia shouted in shock and disbelief.

"Imaginary Numbers Space?" Waver similarly shouted in the same vein, their words echoed by those present.

A moment later and their voices were drowned out as Rin's fist pulverized the ground it struck, shattering the floor into rubble for ten feet in every direction, visibly displacing the air and sending clouds of dust flying. Caules sprang away with a shout of dismay, an arm raised to protect his face.

"COWARD!" Rin shouted. "COME OUT AND FIGHT, SAKURA! OTHERWISE, FORFEIT!"

"…she doesn't have to." Caules answered with narrowed eyes. "She's simply using her magecraft, and this is a battle of magecraft. Taking advantage of her ability to use Imaginary Numbers Space is _not _against the rules!"

"…point conceded!" Luvia shouted from across the arena.

Rin grit her teeth, and then sensing magecraft at work, turned and opened fire with Gandr while going back on the move. Her aim was wild, and clearly meant only to deter Sakura from getting close, except it wasn't Sakura that was attacking.

At least, not directly: a trio of bronze Cerberi emerged from Imaginary Numbers Space, violet light roiling from inside their shells, and burning from their eyes. Bounding forward, they bared their fangs, ready to tear into Rin's flesh.

"You think that will be enough to beat me?" she roared, picking up the pace and leaving divots with every step. Sweeping out an arm, she opened fire with Gandr, firing with enough force to strike sparks from the floor. Maintaining fire, Rin kept the Cerberi from getting too close, and then leaping away, threw a gem.

The Cerberi evaded, the gem exploding against the ground instead, leaving a crater on the floor. Leaping back and forth, Rin threw two more gems, forcing the Cerberi back and continuing to crater the arena's floor.

Narrowing her eyes, Rin opened fire with Gandr in a pattern, and then predicting a Cerberus' movements, threw another gem. The Cerberus managed to avoid getting hit on its main body, but the gem's explosion still took a leg off, bronze shards flying wildly as it was thrown away by the force of the explosion.

Cheers went up from those of the audience belonging to the Department of Mineralogy. None of them were particularly close to Rin, but she was still one of them. Conversely, jeers went up from the members of the Department of Spiritual Invocation in the audience.

Rin grinned in satisfaction…

…and then her eyes widened in shock, as the backs of the two other Cerberi morphed, bronze flowing like wax to form a turret with two barrels, and after gathering prana for a couple of moments, fired.

Rin cursed as she sprang away, the ether beams flying through the air she'd been in a moment ago, and instead cratering the far wall. Once again, she was on the run, avoiding the two Cerberi as they fired their ether cannons again and again.

"…damn it…damn it…this is messed up!" Rin shouted as she ran and leaped forward, zigzagging as she went, explosions erupting around her and sending hot shards of stone flying around her.

And then leaping up, she flipped through the air, over and behind the Cerberi behind her, and threw a pair of gems.

The two automatons split up, explosions ripping up the ground, and then turning in a wide circle on either side, aimed their ether cannons and fired.

Rin dodged, springing back and away as cannon fire blew another crater into the ground.

"…if that's the way you want it, Sakura, then…!" she spat, throwing a gem while staying on the move. It flashed as it flew through the air, and gasps and cheers went up as it transformed into a sparrow in midair. Flying around cannon fire and nimbly closing the distance, it slammed into a Cerberus and exploded.

It wasn't as powerful as it would have been if it had exploded while still in gem form, but it was still enough to score and crack the automaton's bronze shell. Rin smirked and threw more gems, the two rubies also turning into sparrows, both winging to attack.

The Cerberi attempted to dodge, but the sparrows were too nimble. Again explosions staggered them away, cracks spreading over their forms and bits and pieces of bronze crumbling off. "That's not all!" Rin shouted, while crushing gems in her hand.

Instantly, magic circuits glowed and stayed alight, and Rin sped up, fast enough to leave afterimages in her wake. Quickly flanking the Cerberi, she pointed her finger, and fired a bolt of lightning at them.

They dodged, narrowly avoiding the lightning strike. It struck behind them, carving molten gashes through the floor.

Rin fired twice more, missing each and every time. Then narrowing her eyes, crushed more gems, this time causing her eyes to light up. "How about this?" she shouted, jumping high into the air, and taking aim, fired.

The bolt of lightning flew…

…and striking true, sheared a turret clean off a Cerberus' back. Sparks flying, the turret then exploded as the Cerberus continued to speed away, its companion firing its ether cannons at Rin in retaliation.

Rin spun through the air, invoking cheers at the show of acrobatic skill while simultaneously avoiding the beams, before nimbly landing on her feet. In one smooth motion, she drew her Azoth Dagger behind her, and moving with supernatural speed, parried a number of bronze feathers fired her way by a newly-arrived Stymphalian.

The raptor cried out as it banked and gained altitude, Rin unable to counter as the two Cerberi, despite the damage done to them, pressed the attack. The turreted one fired its ether cannons repeatedly, and as Rin leaped away, the other one pounced.

Snarling, Rin crossed her arms to protect herself, and then the automaton struck with bone-breaking force. Her reinforcement held, however, and as they flew away from each other, she prepared to fire a lightning bolt to finish the automaton off.

But just as she was about to fire, her instincts screamed at her to evade, and so she did. Even then, bronze feathers still struck numerous glancing blows, cutting shallow but painful wounds across her body.

"…what?" she gasped. "Oh no way…"

The disabled Cerberus from earlier was back on its feet, the Stymphalian having merged with it to rebuild the destroyed leg, while also sprouting wings from its back. Occupied as she was with the active Cerberi, she hadn't noticed the Stymphalian from earlier fly down towards the crippled Cerberus, or for that matter, the audience's jeers and cheers as the two automatons fused and returned to battle.

More importantly, while the Cerberus' new wings weren't enough to fly with, they now allowed the Cerberus to fire razor-edged feathers as projectiles.

Now it fired once more, Rin dodging only to be pressed hard as another Cerberus fired its ether cannons. As Rin dodged, the Cerberi loped towards each other, before forming up into a v-shaped formation.

The first fired its ether cannons, then the second its feathers, while the third pounced. Rin dodged the fire from the first two, only to take a glancing hit from the third, sending her spinning away and tumbling over the ground. Quickly recovering, she gasped as she saw bronze feathers being launched at her, and only narrowly avoided a murderous hit that still left a bloody gash on her cheek.

Leaping away to avoid another volley, she opened fire with Gandr as a Cerberus pounced, inwardly fighting down the surge of panic and cursing at instinctively reacting with Gandr instead of a more powerful elemental attack. The Gandr strikes dented bronze plating, but failed to cause real damage, only succeeding in turning the automaton enough to avoid flooring Rin.

As it was, the glancing strike still sent her tumbling away yet again. The winged Cerberus took advantage of this to open fire with yet another barrage of razor-edged feathers, Rin clumsily – in comparison to her previous movements – dancing around the bladed projectiles, allowing two of the feathers to score deep gashes into her arms, causing blood to flow freely over her limbs and to splatter against the ground in her wake.

Growling in pain and frustration, Rin narrowed her eyes as the Cerberi reformed their formation. Another barrage of bladed feathers were fired…

…and rather than avoid them, Rin jumped _towards_ them instead.

As the feathers overshot, Rin charged the Cerberi head on, and leaping aside at the last instant, fired a lightning bolt in their direction from behind. The formation collapsed as the Cerberi dodged, the winged Cerberus firing a volley at Rin in retaliation.

Rin again leaped forward, once more causing the feathers to overshoot, while simultaneously drawing her Azoth Dagger once more. "_Seht den Atem von Zephyr!_" she cast an aria, the gem at her dagger's pommel glowing bright in response.

The Cerberus whose turret she'd earlier shot off pounced, only for Rin to skid down to a knee, and swinging her dagger forward, extended a blade of air molecules shaped into a blade with a monomolecular edge. Sparks flew followed by one of the Cerberus' legs, the automaton crashing and skidding against the ground behind her.

The winged Cerberus retaliated again, firing a barrage of feathers at her, only for Rin to crush a gem against the ground an instant later. A wall of stone three-feet thick rose up between them, blocking the feathers, and then pointing to the side, Rin fired a lightning bolt at the ether cannon-armed Cerberus as it loped past.

The lightning bolt melted through bronze and shattered the bindings between the automaton and the spirit which animated it. Prana surged out of control, and caused the automaton to explode with force comparable to one of Rin's own gems, sending torn fragments of bronze flying in every direction.

Sensing motion behind her, Rin turned and swung down, cutting two more legs from the automaton behind, its pounce slow and clumsy due to the previous loss of a leg. Smashing against Rin's wall, bronze crumpled and gave way, the automaton twitching in spasms before it returned into where it was usually kept inside Imaginary Numbers Space.

"In the beginning, there was only darkness."

Rin's eyes widened as she recognized Sakura's voice, and then gasped as she realized this was an aria. "And from that darkness was born light and all else." The aria continued to be spoken as Rin dispelled the wall, and spotted Sakura on the far side of the arena.

A mandala glowed before her, a five-pointed star drawn inside a circle, iron stakes driven into the ground at each point. Four more mandalas of the same design glowed around the arena, linked to each other by a circle spanning the arena's circumference. "When did she…?" Rin breathed in horror.

"But beyond creation darkness has always existed." Sakura continued, blood dripping from her hand and down to the mandala before her, forming a connection between them.

"I won't let you!" Rin shouted, leaping forward and throwing a jewel in Sakura's direction. The last Cerberus ran between them and pounced, connecting with the gem and destroying them both, but the force of the explosion buffeted and threw Rin back, caught as she was mid-jump by the explosion. "OH NO!"

In contrast, while Sakura was buffeted by the explosion, she was able to stay on her feet, maintaining her connection and with it, the chance to complete her aria. "And into darkness all shall return in the end." She said. "So I declare: Flow, into darkness!"

The mandalas flared bright in response, energy crackling up from the circle into the air…

…and then seemingly fizzled out, pulsing out a flare of prana that quickly dissipated into the air.

Silence fell across the arena, pregnant with expectation among the audience. Rin cracked her neck and glared at Sakura, who stared stonily back. "Good composure," Rin taunted, while tossing her ponytail over a shoulder. Then palming a gem, she threw it Sakura. "But this fight is over. You've _lost_."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, and raising a hand…

…caught the gem, which sat harmlessly in her hand.

Rin's eyes widened, and she gasped in shock at the sight. Above, the members of the Department of Spiritual Invocation exploded into thunderous applause. "Counter Magic!" one of the magi shouted in glee. "I don't bloody believe it! That Yggdmillennia bitch actually fucking did it!"

Sakura snorted, and crushing the gem she was holding beforehand, reached down to draw her saber. "Now your elemental magic is useless." She hissed. "And _I_ have the advantage in close combat!"

Stone cracked beneath Sakura's feet as she leapt forward at breakneck speed, but Rin only clenched her teeth while simultaneously raising her dagger to block and drawing back a fist to counterattack. And then Sakura's speed peaked at the last instant, dancing around Rin to get behind her, leaving behind an afterimage giving the illusion of Sakura passing through her.

Despite having known of the trick beforehand, it still caught Rin by surprise, Luvia's words echoing through her – and Luvia and Shirou's – mind.

_…easy to see through off the battlefield…on it though…well, it's not so easy to think when someone is swinging a sword around to take your head._

But even as Sakura's sword swung down to cut into Rin's back, Rin moved without thinking, moving forward a few steps and bringing her out of Sakura's reach. And then roaring, she spun around, raising her leg to kick.

Sakura raised an arm to block, the force of impact cracking and breaking the ground beneath Sakura's feet. But then Sakura drew her free – sword – arm back, and using the springs in the upper part of the Human body to provide the necessary force, drove it forward towards a wide-open Rin. Piercing her shoulder, the rhenium alloy blade's sheer mass crushed through Rin's reinforced flesh, and punching deep all the way to the bone.

* * *

A/N

And the duel of the fates begins.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 6

Rin cried out as Sakura's sword punched deep into her right shoulder, and again when Sakura twisted the blade, feeling the metal grind against bone. Then Sakura pulled away, skipping back against the ground for several feet before swinging the blood off her sword. And then flourishing her sword, leaped back in with the weapon held out for a fresh attack.

"How's your shoulder wound doing?" she taunted, as she swung at Rin again and again.

Rin clumsily blocked each and every strike with her Azoth Dagger, the heavier metal of Sakura's saber leaving deep notches into the blade. Even worse were the effects of the vibrations of each and every impact jarring her ruined shoulder, torn muscle and cracked bone grinding with agony.

"And there's an opening…!" Sakura screamed as she swung up, diagonally from the right.

Gritting her teeth, Rin forced herself to dodge, and then going with the flow, riposted with a sweeping kick that swept Sakura's legs out from beneath her.

"_She managed to pull that off despite her injury…?_" Sakura thought in disbelief as she fell through her shadow again.

Opening up the distance with a series of short hops, Rin gasped as she activated her crest. Unable to access any of the five elements thanks to the counter magic spell deployed by Sakura, she was forced to use cruder and less efficient mysteries to repair the damage done to her body. She cried out as she felt damaged bone forcibly fuse itself, and muscle and skin twisting shut, leaving an ugly scar behind.

For that reason, she held off on healing the cuts on her face and other parts of her body. As bloody as they were, they were just flesh wounds. No need to leave permanent scarring behind by crudely healing them now.

Rin narrowed her eyes as she saw reality ripple, and Sakura reemerged from Imaginary Numbers Space. The younger magus held her saber low to her right, and looked at Rin with a tilt of her head.

"Impressive…" she eventually said. "…most impressive…I should expect nothing else from my older sister…"

"…do you expect me to say the same about you?" Rin spat.

"…not really…" Sakura admitted with a shrug, her free hand held up in a gesture of helplessness. "You're a good little girl, loyal and obedient to her father. And I strongly doubt our father had any good word to say about me over the past decade…well, in the last year of his life, at any rate."

Rin made a disgusted sound while pulling out several gems. "Don't think that just because you've cut off my ability to use the five elements you've won." She spat, while holding the gems against her Azoth Dagger's blade. "Because you haven't! Not by a long shot!"

Sakura grinned in anticipation, before bringing her saber up vertically before her face, before flourishing it through the air in an x-shaped pattern.

A salute to death.

Rin growled low while sliding her fingers against the blade of her dagger. Blood spilled out, washing down over the blade and gems alike, the dagger's pommel glowing bright. "_Blut für Feuer, Feuer für Blut!_" she cast, the gems in her hand seeming to melt and flow around the dagger's blade. Then extending outward, they coalesced into solidity once more, until Rin held a sword equal in length to Sakura's own.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "…I see." She said. "Alteration…to forge a blade out of carbon allotropes…? Yes…most impressive indeed…"

"Let's see if you can still say that…once I cut you down to size!"

With a loud shout of rage, Rin closed the distance at supernatural speeds, Sakura barely having the time to take a defensive stance. The sound of blades striking each other at incredible speed echoed across the arena and over the stands above, Sakura parrying each and every one of Rin's strikes while simultaneously giving ground.

Locking blades, Sakura turned Rin's sword around in a circle, before Rin powered through and resumed the barrage. Sakura continued to retreat, and then locking blades again, turned Rin's sword in a circle before Rin once more powered through and forced Sakura to continue retreating.

Snarling, Sakura stood her ground, then locking blades, dragged Rin's blade towards her left. Rin obliged, turning with her sword to keep Sakura in front of her, and then grinding her sword free Sakura went on the offensive, swinging again and again only for Rin to parry each and every time, before the latter feinted and kicking through the gap in Sakura's guard, launched her backwards.

Going with the flow, Sakura let herself be kicked backward, and then landing on her feet, gave way several steps to avoid being overwhelmed. Rin once more pressed the offensive, slashing at Sakura wildly but still somehow making each and every strike flow into the next to waste neither momentum nor power, but Sakura blocked one after the other, all the while continuing to give way.

And then unexpectedly riposting, Sakura pulled Rin in close, placing her in an arm lock while simultaneously grinding her saber free, and then striking down to cut. Rin managed to bring her sword up in time to block, and letting go to recover, Sakura backed away while again parrying Rin's resumed offensive.

Feinting, Rin locked Sakura's sword in place with one hand, and grabbed her in a chokehold by the neck. Sakura's gasped as her eyes went wide, even more so as Rin forced her to drop her sword, before moving to cut her throat.

Fighting down panic, Sakura let her legs relax, causing both her and Rin to drop unceremoniously down to the arena floor. Scrambling to their feet in the next instant, Rin dropkicked Sakura with a snarl, only for Sakura to kick her down with a boot to the shin in the next moment before leaping up to her feet.

Glancing at her saber nearby, Sakura let it fall into Imaginary Numbers Space…

…and then out into her hand, and reversing it, made to stab down…

…only for the ground beneath Rin to sink down, stone altering into fist-ended arms that slammed into Sakura's face.

The stone broke against her reinforced features, but it staggered her back several steps, allowing Rin to get up and grabbing her sword, charged at Sakura. Swing after swing followed, the two sisters moving increasingly faster to the point their arms left afterimages behind them, sparks flying each and every time their blades met, before they finally locked against each other with enough force to displace the surrounding air.

Then each drawing a free hand back, Rin and Sakura punched each other in the face, breaking the blade lock and sending each other staggering away.

Rin was the first to recover though, and roaring leaped over to bring her sword down in a two-handed blow. Sakura dodged, letting Rin's sword smash into the ground and reduce it to rubble, and then she too was backing away as Sakura counterattacked.

Again their blades met again and again, until Sakura feinted and then kicked at Rin through her open guard. Snarling at her own tactic used against her, Rin went on the offensive once more, Sakura parrying swing after swing, before again feinting and kicking Rin away.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rin looked incredulous at once again having her tactic used against her…

…even more so as rather than press the offensive, Sakura backed away, to more level ground undamaged by Rin's earlier engagement against her automatons. Snarling, Rin leaped to cut Sakura off, and resuming the offensive, hammered at her with powerful, two-handed blows that forced Sakura back, before feinting and kicking Sakura away with a blow to the chin.

Staggering away, Sakura balanced along the edge of a crater, saber hold out before her in a fencing guard.

Narrowing her eyes, Rin attacked only for Sakura to feint and drop down to the crater floor below. Rin jumped down as well, in front of Sakura, and once again hammered away at her. Locking blades and forcing Sakura's guard open, Rin freed a hand and backhanded Sakura away.

"That's for making father get on his knees to bow his head, you ungrateful brat!" she spat.

Snarling in her turn, Sakura counterattacked, locking Rin's blade in a one-handed grip, and then catching Rin's fist with her other hand, lunged forward to butt heads against her. The sound of bone striking bone echoed across the arena, Rin staggering away as Sakura spat on the ground.

"Like I give a damn." She hissed.

Roaring in rage at the insult, Rin attacked, Sakura giving way while blocking swing after swing, before locking blades and forcing Rin's sword to the ground. Stone cracked and shattered at the impact, before Sakura ground her sword free, and swung at Rin's head.

Rin blocked and riposted, only for Sakura to block and riposte in her turn.

Then the two backed away from each other, warily sizing each other up once more while turning in a circle around each other. Ignoring the yells and cheers of the audience, they lunged forward, slashing at each other, sparks flying as they parried each other's strikes before backing away once again.

"This is the way it should be, Rin." Sakura whispered with a satisfied smile.

"What did you say?" Rin asked, her reinforced hearing catching Sakura's words.

"With all things being equal between us," Sakura said, raising her voice. "Inheritance should not have been decided by such a meaningless thing as accident of birth, but by mortal combat to determine who should rightfully inherit!"

Rin scoffed and brandished her sword, and once again lunging forward, crossed blades with Sakura several times before backing away once more. "Words," she spat. "Rationalizations…all misdirection to hide what this is: envy and covetousness, for not being given what I was given."

Sakura's smile didn't so much as waver, even as she took a half-step back, and took a classic guard stance. "Prove it then," she said. "That that crest isn't wasted on you."

"…so be it." Rin whispered, before taking her sword in both hands. "This is the end for you, little sister. For what it's worth…I'm sorry."

Then giving a loud roar, Rin leaped up and overhead, landing behind Sakura and swinging at her with powerful blows that struck sparks off Sakura's rhenium alloy blade, and sent cracks running along the edge of Rin's own carbon blade. Sakura gave way as she blocked blow after blow, and then locking blades with Rin, abruptly gave way then feinted, Rin's blow meant to sever her hands cutting through air as Sakura reopened the distance.

"Is that the best you can do?" she taunted, once more saluting with her sword in a x-shaped pattern. "Surely you can do better."

"I'll show you better!" Rin spat, before running forward a few steps, before once more leaping and overhead, planning to once more attack Sakura from behind.

Following Rin with her eyes, Sakura turned and stepping forwards with a deep breath, stabbed forwards and up. Rhenium alloy carved through flesh to emerge dripping, even as carbon allotrope stronger and harder than diamond chopped through flesh and bone.

Rin coughed up blood, staring at Sakura with eyes wide from shock and disbelief. Sakura grimaced in pain, feeling her left arm fall limp as her left shoulder was ruined by Rin's sword chopping a third of the way through.

And then pulling away, slid her saber out of Rin's chest, having pierced straight through Rin's heart.

Rin staggered back, and then collapsed down on the floor, blood beginning to pool around her. Barely registering the seconds declaring victory over the roaring of the crowd, Sakura just twisted her face in pain while catching her breath.

"SAKURA…!" Caules shouted while running up to her.

"Caules…get a medical team in here…" Sakura said. "Not just for me…but for Rin as well…"

"…what?" Caules asked in surprise.

"…she's still my sister." Sakura answered, and after a moment, Caules nodded and taking a mystic code out of a pocket, began to call for a medical team. Meanwhile, Sakura just stood there, blood soaking through her uniform or dripping down from her saber's blade, and looked on as Luvia struggled to stabilize Rin.

_Finally…I've done it…I've finally done it…_

_I…I've surpassed you, Rin…_

_…the perfect heiress…_

_…perfect no longer…_

_…just as you promised, grandfather…thank you._

* * *

"TOHSAKA!"

Shirou's charge towards his master was stopped by Luvia, who physically restrained him. "Calm down, Shero!" She hissed into his ear. "Calm down!"

"But…Tohsaka…she's…!"

"I know." Luvia breathed. "Trust me, I know. I was the one who stabilized her, after all. If I hadn't done that, then right now…Tohsaka would have been…"

Shirou shot Luvia a look, which she met evenly. After a few moments, Shirou looked away, and taking a deep breath, relaxed. Luvia released him, and Shirou immediately ran a hand through his hair. "How bad is it?" he finally asked.

"…if we didn't have magic," Luvia answered after a moment. "Then I'd say it's a matter of touch and go. A heart transplant is, from what I understand, not a very safe or practical thing for ordinary people."

Shirou didn't answer at once, instead staring as the medics carried Rin away to the nearest medical wing and operating room. She was pale from loss of blood, much of which was stained over her body. Mandalas glowed dully with red light over her chest, and unseen, a matching mandala did the same on her back. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing weak.

Shirou clenched his fists at the sight.

"A heart transplant?" he finally echoed. "It's really that bad?"

"It is." Luvia said with a nod. "Tohsaka Yggdmillennia didn't just stab Rin in the heart, but the heart also continued to beat after being stabbed. Its movements against the blade's edges worsened the damage, and continued to worsen as the sword was removed and during the aftermath. Add in blood loss…"

Luvia trailed off, while Shirou ran a hand through his hair again. "Will she really be alright?" he asked.

"Yes, she will be." Luvia said. "She'll be placed in medical stasis, while a replacement heart is prepared. As her second in that duel, and her closest living relative present, I have the authority to draw on her funds to provide for medical treatment."

"…where will you get a replacement heart?" Shirou asked.

"There are a number of puppet masters who can reliably provide a replacement with the same level of performance as the original." Luvia answered. "Once the heart is replaced, we can bring her out of stasis and begin replenishing lost blood. From there, it's all up to her will to live."

"…there shouldn't be any problems on that end."

"I would certainly think not." Luvia said with a disdainful sniff. "She might not bear our name, but she is of our blood. And we Edelfelt do not die easily."

Shirou hummed while looking away in thought. Luvia silently indulged him with her presence for a few minutes, and then pulling out a pocket watch, gave a polite cough. "I apologize for having to leave, Shero." She said. "But I must go and see to the details of Tohsaka's treatment."

"I see…no, wait!"

"Yes?"

Shirou briefly hesitated, and briefly glancing in the direction of the arena, turned back to Luvia. "…will Rin really lose her crest?" he asked.

"She lost the duel." Luvia said softly. "And her crest was put on the line for the victor to claim. So, yes, she will lose her crest. It will be removed while she is in stasis, and surrendered to Yggdmillennia."

Shirou clenched his fists. "This…this isn't right." He breathed, feeling impotent and enraged in equal measure.

Luvia hummed in sympathy, and placing a hand on Shirou's shoulder, squeezed reassuringly before walking away.

* * *

"We've seen some interesting magic, didn't we, professor?"

"Hmm…"

Waver didn't respond verbally, his thoughts in turmoil. It seemed that Tokiomi Tohsaka being regarded as the second most powerful Master of the Fourth Holy Grail War truly was a justified status. Even if he was qualitatively-inferior by a degree to his daughters, based on inference Waver could see and say without reservation that only Lord Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald could have hoped to win against him in a duel of magecraft.

To be sure, Kiritsugu Emiya would likely still have come out on top, with his extensive (and heterodox) use of modern technology and weapons, but when it came to magecraft?

The man would have been dead in a matter of minutes.

The same went for the other Masters. Whether himself, Byakuya Matou, whoever Caster's Master was…

…alright, the Kotomine could probably have taken Tohsaka or even Lord El-Melloi, but that was an unfair comparison, at least in terms of (again) pure magecraft abilities. As a former executor, Kotomine's skills and abilities were honed specifically to fight and kill magi (among others).

But that wasn't what was troubling. No, that was something else.

Specifically, that counter magic array configuration which Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia used was.

For all that the configuration was simultaneously simple yet effective – iron stakes to form the seals for the configuration, linked together with a circle drawn with (probably) iron-infused chalk – in that it focused on shutting down elemental magecraft as opposed to magecraft in its entirety, it was exactly that simplicity, that sense of _prioritization _in its construction that worried Waver. He knew talented and privileged magi like Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia. Their pride in their (and fed by) their great talent and achievement was usually reflected by a complexity and overbearing design in their work.

And while he could see – in hindsight – touches of that in the function which Waver assumed dumped recycled prana (from dispelled elemental spells) into Imaginary Numbers Space, plus the vast prana capacity which the configuration could handle, it was still overall a simple thing. And that sense of prioritization too…

Waver set his jaw.

He knew he shouldn't be surprised, much less annoyed or even angry. They were cousins, after all, legally if not genetically. They were even engaged to be married, too.

It was only natural that they would help each other.

Even so, Waver felt irritation at the thought that Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia might have used some of what he – Waver – had taught him to help his cousin in this…farce.

Brooding in his displeasure, Waver didn't notice Flat blanch next to him, and to gingerly distance himself in the next moment. He barely registered the dark-clothed woman walking up to him with purpose and barely-contained wrath, or the silvery maid walking a step to the side behind her.

He noticed a booted foot making contact with his family jewels though.

Crying out in pain, Lord Waver El-Melloi II crumpled to his knees, clutching at his groin. For a few moments, he just knelt there, and then looked up with a glare. "What's the big…?" he began to demand, only for the blood to similarly drain from his face.

Lady Reines El-Melloi Archisorte glared down at Waver. "Tell me," she began while waving a sheaf of papers through the air. "How is it that it took me well over a month to learn that the son of my brother's killer, of the same man who destroyed our family's crest, was here at the Clock Tower? Oh, and that you not only knew of his presence, but even had one of your students…"

At that, Reines paused to nod at a very uncomfortable Flat, before turning back to Waver with a glare. "…help him…fit in, or whatnot?" she demanded.

"I…" Waver began, only to look away in silence. Incensed further by the sight, Reines slapped him on the head with the papers in her hand. Then again…and again…and again…

* * *

Sakura pulled on a soft and loose-fitting shirt, followed by a coat to keep warm, even as the spiritual surgeon finished packing up his tools. "I would suggest you call me again in two weeks for a checkup, my lady." The man said. "No complications should result, but it would be prudent."

Sakura nodded, and with a bow, the man left. Alone in the room, Sakura exercised her arm and shoulder a few times, wincing at the soreness of the muscles in her shoulder, to say nothing of the bone within.

Normally, something like a torn muscle and shattered shoulder shouldn't have been problematic for a spiritual surgeon. However, Rin's sword had had an unexpected side-effect, having been made with carbon allotrope. Apparently, they tended to shatter at a microscopic level, fragments of which had contaminated her injury and caused minor blood poisoning and hindering cellular regeneration.

The surgeon had solved the issue, but just in case, had prescribed her a number of foul-tasting pills in case there were any carbon fragments still in her body. It would slow down her shoulder's healing, but needs must.

At the very least, functionality had been restored. She could go with that, for now.

Sakura turned towards the door at a knock. "Enter." She said, and Caules slipped in.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey yourself." Sakura said with a smile.

"Congratulations are in order, it looks like." He said while adjusting his glasses, and returning her smile.

"You already said that before." Sakura said with a laugh, and it was true. Once Rin Tohsaka had been stabilized, and the medics had arrived, Caules had congratulated her for her victory in the duel. "And like I said before…I need my crest first, before I can really say I've won."

"Hmm…true…" Caules said. "Hopefully we don't have to wait long."

"Agreed…though I'm sure grandfather's other agents here in the Clock Tower are already on the problem."

Caules nodded, and then smiling wider, lifted the object he'd been carrying. Sakura looked at it, and her eyes widened. "…Rin's Azoth Dagger…or is it an Azoth Sword, now?" she asked.

Caules laughed and shrugged. "Call it whatever you want." He said. "But it's yours, by right of victory, and…assuming your sister will be one of us going forward, as head of your branch of the family…"

Sakura nodded, and took the sword from Caules. Her face twisted in disgust. "The weight is off." She said. "It's a wonder she was able to fight so well with this…and maybe that's the whole point. She is supposed to be my equal, after all. Or she was…"

Sakura trailed off with a smile, and made a couple of practice swings one-handed with Rin's sword. Then gesturing, she had one of the homunculi attendants take it away. "Have it cleaned and put in storage." She said.

"Yes, Lady Sakura." The homunculus said with a bow, and then left. Caules waited until the artificial Human had gone, and then turned back to Sakura.

"So," he began. "What do you plan to do with your sister?"

* * *

Luvia stared into the inside of a wooden case she held in her hands. She stood in a waiting area outside of an operating room in one of the Clock Tower's many medical wings, and there was no else there.

That was rather sad, when no else seemed to care about Rin.

Then again, that wasn't completely true. Shero had been here earlier, but he'd gone to visit the men's room a few minutes ago, and as far as Luvia knew, the nearest men's room was quite the walk away. Unsurprising, really: who would put a toilet near an operating room?

More importantly, there were the contents of the case, newly-removed from Rin's arm.

The Tohsaka Crest lay there inside the case. It even had a separate, smaller case of glass of its own, suspended in clear fluid to help preserve the network of magic circuits taken from previous generations of Tohsaka magi, and forged by those same magi into a metastable form, now that it wasn't implanted in the body of the latest generation of Tohsaka magi.

More than half of its circuits didn't come from Tohsaka magi though, much less its core.

They just added theirs to it, starting…two, generations ago.

No, most of the crest's donors were of Edelfelt name and blood. Tohsaka's possession of the crest was only due to an unsanctioned marriage between a main line Edelfelt and one of their own, and by all rights, Luvia should confiscate this here and now, two generations of Tohsaka circuits included in the crest be damned.

Even if the crest now belonged to Tohsaka Yggdmillennia due to Rin Tohsaka having put it up as collateral during their duel, Luvia and her family's agents could argue the case it was never theirs to put up as collateral. Yggdmillennia would fight, but the outcome would never really be in question.

But…she wouldn't. Out of the same reason why Edelfelt hadn't taken action over two generations…

…because while the generation which married one of their own did so without permission, their descendants, even if they never bore their name, were still of their blood.

They were still family.

And family was everything.

For that reason, Luvia chose to close and secure the case. Looking up, there was still no one else apart from her in the waiting area, Shero still yet to return.

At least…there were no other 'natural' Humans. There were a pair of homunculi though, from the Yggdmillennia. And it was to them that Luvia surrendered the crest.

_Here's to it serving you well, cousin._

* * *

A/N

I'll bet some of you are asking, when did Rin learn how to use a sword? Um…she's supposed to be a Kung Fu master, right? If so, then she would have received training in swordsmanship, as part of more advanced techniques and forms in Kung Fu.

And before you go 'Oriental martial arts are superior to western swordsmanship'…actually, no, they're not. I mean, they're not inferior either, but they're not inherently superior. That's a cultural phenomenon born of Oriental martial arts getting more hype than western martial styles because of popular culture. In Germany alone, there were hundreds of styles with regard to the use of longswords and polearms (among other weapons) from the High Middle Ages onward, corresponding to the hundreds of states, principalities, and free cities that made up Germany in that period.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 7

_Einzbern Castle, Germany_

A homunculus ran across a large stone antechamber, lit by bright xenon lamps setup along the walls linked to each other and powered by long and thick cables sheathed in black rubber. Crates of equipment both empty and not were neatly stacked out of the way, while here and there other homunculi stood guard in white and gold Yggdmillennia uniforms with dark-colored berets on their heads. The harsh light of the xenon lamps gleamed off the edges of their polearms, and they briefly glanced in the direction of the newcomer before looking away in disinterest.

They knew one of their own, after all.

Passing through a pair of heavy doors made from bronze-banded oak, the metal pockmarked with spots of green corrosion, the homunculus entered a gigantic, circular chamber. Located in the dungeon levels of the Einzbern Castle, there was no natural light here, provided instead by torches and candles in times past, and now by xenon lamps.

Once, this place was the heart of not just Einzbern Castle, but of the Einzbern lineage of magi. No longer: with the failure of Einzbern's Master to claim the Holy Grail during the Fifth Holy Grail War, the Old Magus King of Einzbern Castle and Eighth Head of Einzbern, Jubstacheit von Einzbern had committed suicide. Sharing their master and maker's despair at their complete and utter failure, for their representative in the contest had been the greatest of their kind, sum and product as she had been of their mysteries and achievements, the rest of the Einzbern lineage had followed Jubstacheit into the arms of death.

That is not to say that Einzbern's defenses had fallen with the family. On the contrary, even in death the Einzbern had retained their pride, and indeed, death had been born of their inability to face the ruin their legacy had fallen into.

For that reason, Einzbern's defenses had remained active and ready to stop any and all intruders who would dare intrude upon their grounds, and to pry into their secrets and mysteries. Not that many knew of their demise, that is.

One of the few that did was the Musik branch of the Yggdmillennia, who had served the Einzbern as tuners for generations now. Indeed, it was to reward them for generations of good and faithful service that the Einzbern had shared with the Musik Yggdmillenia a diluted form of their alchemical arts, allowing them to coin their own homunculi.

A pale shadow of Einzbern's prized artificial Humans, but still greatly surpassing those coined by other families.

And it was that…privileged, position which allowed the Musik Yggdmillennia to learn of Einzbern's demise, and after months of work, to bypass their defenses. With no one inside the grounds and castle to oppose them, and knowledge of Einzbern's fall still limited to an exclusive few, Musik Yggdmillennia, and by extension, the greater Yggdmillennia family was free to grasp in their hands over a thousand years of accumulated lore and learning.

All for the sake of the Tree of the Thousand Realms, of course.

The gigantic, underground chamber the homunculus had run into had been the central archive of the Einzbern family. In the middle of the room was a pit, from which arose to almost touch the ceiling a collection of rectangular slabs of greenish stone, on which circuit patterns gleamed in the light of the xenon lamps. Protecting the archive was a transparent wall of glass, or what seemed like glass, only harder and stronger than diamond, climbing up from the lip of the pit to the ceiling, and completely surrounding the archive on all sides.

Facing the archive at the end of a direct path from the chamber's only entrance was a raised and circular podium, as though for petitioners to address a higher authority. Seven posts of silver rose to the front, left, and right of the podium, rising to knee-height on an adult male of average height (for a medieval man).

Once, the posts would have projected screens above and between them, on which archived material would be displayed and perused at will. With Einzbern's fall, such functions had been locked, however, and despite months of work, had yet to be restored and with it, free access to Einzbern's central archive.

It was…frustrating, but there was ample time and work was underway to restore all functions. So…it was a setback, but not a particularly crippling one.

Bare copper was wrapped in thick bunches around each pole, which ran towards and merged inside a junction box at the podium's base. From there, a thick cable sheathed in black rubber ran to a workstation setup to the side, where computational units operating on similar yet dissimilar principles and concepts as modern computers did were assembled under and around a large wooden table.

Behind the table, a tall and portly man worked away, wearing a more elaborate version of the Yggdmillennia uniform. His rank stripes indicated very high rank, further reflected by his gold epaulettes and aiguillettes. This man was Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia, head of the Musik branch of the Yggdmillennia lineage of magi.

And as the former tuner for the Einzbern family, he had been the one tasked by Lord Darnic to claim Einzbern's knowledge and mysteries in the name of the family.

"Lord Gordes…!" the homunculus shouted as he ran up to Gordes, and standing to attention, saluted.

"What is it?" Gordes snapped from where he sat at the workstation. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I apologize for the interruption, my lord." The homunculus said. "However, we've received a priority one update from London."

"…and?" Gordes prompted after a moment.

"Lady Sakura has completed her given task." The homunculus said. "The Tohsaka Crest is ours."

Gordes froze, and then turned to face the homunculus. "Are you certain of this?" he asked.

"The information has been independently confirmed by Trifas." The homunculus answered.

Gordes burst out laughing, and clapping his hands in genuine applause, rose from his seat. "Very good!" he said. "Very good indeed! With this Lord Darnic's plan can proceed to the next stage!"

And then as suddenly as it came, Gordes' good mood ceased to be, instead replaced with worry and concern. "Magi duels are brutal affairs, however." He said, tugging at his moustache. "Do we have the details of the duel and its outcome?"

"Yes, my lord." The homunculus said while handing Gordes a stick of crystal.

Taking it, Gordes slid it into a port, and accessed the data within. After a few minutes of perusal, the man's good mood returned. "As should be expected from little Sakura," he said with a beaming smile. "She was my finest student, after all!"

"What should we do, my lord?" the homunculus asked.

"…we will continue with our given task," Gordes replied after a moment's thought. "Until we receive orders to the contrary from Trifas."

"Yes, my lord."

Gordes nodded, though he clasped his hands behind him while raising his face in thought. "_I don't expect new orders not to come soon, however._" He thought. "_My expertise is going to be needed if we're to relocate the Grail, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lord Darnic will want…witnesses, for such a…historic, moment._"

Turning back to the workstation, Gordes again reached up to tug at his moustache. "_Though,_" he thought. "_That also makes our work here even more important than it already is._"

* * *

_Trifas, Romania_

Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia was doing maintenance work on her automatons in her workshop when she received the report that her cousin Sakura had successfully claimed the Tohsaka Crest in a duel of magic against Rin Tohsaka. The report was accompanied by a letter to Fiore from Sakura, sent from their outpost in London.

Taking the offered letter from the tray it was on, Fiore held it up to the light before beginning to read.

_Dearest Fiore,_

_By now you will have received reports that I have succeeded in claiming the Tohsaka Crest from my older sister. It was a difficult battle, with Rin having fought with skill and honor and indeed, succeeded in landing grievous blows against yours truly before victory was finally won._

_I assure you, however, that despite the grievous nature of the injuries dealt, they are not particularly life-threatening, and have already been addressed. I would also apologize for having caused you any worry by telling you such, but I thought it best to hear of them from myself as well as the official report that our family's agents will be providing you. With this victory, our grandfather's plans to restore our family to its rightful glory are advanced by – dare I say it – several steps forward._

_However, I write to you not simply to tell you of my victory, but to ask something of you. Victory was not won without cost, not just to myself, but also to my older sister. As you know, grandfather has given me leave to bring my sister into the fold of our family should I achieve victory, but I fear that the injuries I dealt to her to achieve it may poison our relationship even further, tattered and torn as it is by the mistakes of the past, whether of my own making or the misguidance of our father._

_I will do what I can to repair it. Rin is a magus, after all. Surely she understands – as I do now – the weight of a magus' duty both to themselves and their family. The duel, as terrible and tragic as it was, was necessary and unavoidable, as you well know._

_However, I fear that in her pride and hurt, Rin will be unable to understand that fact. Holding it against me, reconciliation may prove difficult, if not impossible without external aid._

_And it is that aid I would ask of you, dear cousin. Though it may seem like flattery, I assure you that you possess not simply the greatest talent our family has ever produced, far surpassing myself or my sister's, but also the kindest soul and warmest heart I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. If there is any who can heal the rift between myself and my sister, it would be you._

_I hope to hear from you soon on this matter._

_Yours truly,_

_Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia_

Fiore let the letter drop to her desk, her expression one of mixed sympathy and thoughtfulness. She could not deny that her cousin's fears with regard to her older sister had some basis, and was certainly sympathetic to Sakura's desire to reconcile with her and even bring her into the fold as well.

Especially now too, as with the Tohsaka Crest in her possession, Sakura was the _de facto _head of the Tohsaka lineage of magi as a whole, and not just the Yggdmillennia thereof. Even _de jure _status was merely a matter of time…and more to the point, she now had the authority to integrate the rest of the Tohsaka lineage with the greater Yggdmillennia family.

While Fiore did think that Sakura overestimated her – Fiore's – character, Fiore did genuinely want to help Sakura in this matter. With that in mind, Fiore adjusted her wheelchair, and clearing some space on her desk, took pen and paper, and began to write.

* * *

"What's her status?"

"My lord," the homunculus began with a nod. "Based on the latest update, undergoing crest implantation."

Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia nodded while looking out the window. Like the rest of his family, he wore their uniform, his rank stripes indicating his status as head of the family, further emphasized by the white cape around his shoulders. "And how is it proceeding?" he asked

"Again," the homunculus replied. "Based on the last update, implantation is forty per cent complete, and so far with no complications."

"That won't last." Darnic murmured, more to himself than to anyone else in the room. "She's still in puberty, so the complications will be minor, but there will be complications nevertheless due to the age she's received the crest at."

"As you say, my lord."

Darnic finally turned from the window. "Instruct Sakura to see Gordes at the soonest possible opportunity." He said. "While the tuner performing the implantation in London is someone vetted by our agents there, it would not do to be imprudent."

"It will be done, my lord." The homunculus said with a salute.

Darnic nodded. "Now that we have the Tohsaka Crest," he said. "We have the legal basis to operate freely in Fuyuki…but for one other obstacle. Nevertheless, begin preparations immediately."

"Yes, my lord." The homunculus said with another salute, and at a gesture from Darnic smartly turned to leave.

Alone in his office now, Darnic narrowed his eyes before leaning against his desk. It seemed that despite some – internal – concern on his part that Sakura would not be able to perform her duty, she had.

Much like Fiore, some part of her always stayed soft, and swayable by matters of the heart, no matter how much he and others had tried to forge and temper them into all they could be. Truly…his most precious grandchildren could be quite the worry at times.

Thankfully though, it had turned out for the best. Sakura had set aside what lingering affection she still had for her sister, and challenging her to single combat within the walls of the Clock Tower itself, had defeated her before claiming the Tohsaka Crest for the family.

With the crest came the leadership of their branch of the family, and position of Second Owner of Fuyuki. And with the latter, just as Darnic had told the homunculus earlier, so long as the Masquerade was preserved and experiments to become or to make Dead Apostles were not committed, the Association could not fault Darnic finally claiming the prize he'd been denied in 1944.

The thought of the latter restriction, one of two absolute rules in magi society, brought a sneer to Darnic's face. The Association supposedly enforced those rules with an iron fist, but they let that _thing _in Fuyuki continue to exist. That _thing _which had denied him his prize all those decades ago.

No doubt due in part to Tohsaka's influence, which was actually perplexing, no matter how Darnic thought about it. From his observations as well as what Sakura had told him of her father, the proud main line of the Tohsaka did not seem the sort to consort with that _thing_.

Even if that _thing _had contributed to the Grail's construction, it wasn't Human anymore. Technicalities which guaranteed some measure of Humanity still remaining within were just that: technicalities. It just wasn't Human anymore.

And Darnic would be the one to wipe it from the face of the Earth for good.

Still, he supposed he should be thankful to a degree. That _thing _using Tohsaka's influence to protect itself proved the latter's value, and Darnic would use that same influence through his granddaughter to freely operate in the Orient in a way he hadn't been able to do since the second world war.

The thought of his granddaughter lingered in Darnic's mind. It would not do to lose her this early in the game, one of the few exceedingly-useful pieces on the board that she was.

There was also her sister, too. No doubt, Sakura would wish to assimilate her into the family as well. Easy enough to do on paper, but reality would be very different. Even if Sakura enlisted Fiore's aid on the matter, Rin Tohsaka may prove…difficult, to control and be made loyal.

Still, if it succeeded, an Average One would make quite the asset. _If _it succeeded, that is.

With that thought in mind, Darnic resolved to keep a keen eye on the matter.

* * *

Separate from the ancient castle which was the heart and nerve center of the world-spanning Yggdmillennia lineage of magi, but still standing on the grounds of their territory, there is a manse. Built of crumbling stone and rotting wood, magic sustains its very foundation, and indeed, is the only thing keeping the manse in one piece.

No one lives here, and indeed, even the one magus who visits regularly would not desire to dwell there.

Even among magi, there is a distinction between the private and the professional, no matter how blurry the line between the two can be at times.

The manse was one for _privately-professional_ affairs, no more and no less.

Walking down an underground corridor of stone, cast in half-light by candles guttering in iron clamps set far and few in-between along the walls, Celenike(II) Isecolle Yggdmillennia made her way to an underground chamber wherein she conducted her experiments, and over the past few years, preparations for her role in Lord Darnic's plans. The air was heavy with the small of rot and wet, and the walls, floor, and ceiling all stained with various strains of mold and mildew.

And as she steadily approached her destination, something else could be smelt in the air. Blood, bile, and other fluids, both fresh and stale. They grew increasingly heavy in the air, and simultaneously brought and masked other, more insidious scents: fear and terror, agony and despair, death and decay.

The underground chamber was wide with a vaulted roof, all made from cold and mold and mildew-touched stone. Tools and implements of refined cruelty and brutal butchery sat on shelves and racks along the walls, or were laid out on tables across the room.

A corpse lay on one such table, the body opened up, its bones and organs removed, the former piled up in a bloodstained bucket nearby. The sound of splashing and sloshing echoed in the dark and stinking air.

"It seems that the Tohsaka brat finished her given task." Celenike(II) said softly, smiling without a care for what was around her.

Again, splashing and sloshing could be heard, before a form dripping with blood and other fluids emerged from a pool at the back of the room. A hand reached up, pulling hair back and causing offal to slide stickily down her matted strands to fall and stick to her body, or down to the floor below. Then it wiped at its face…

…and Celenike Isecolle Yggdmillennia looked back at herself.

"A shame," she said. "If she had failed, I would have enjoyed punishing her for her failure."

"Indeed," Celenike(II) said before tilting her head. "But since she has succeeded…"

"Yes," Celenike said, her bloody lips twitching into a ghastly smile. "The fruits of our labors are about to be reaped."

"Mm…" Celenike(II) hummed with delightful anticipation, as she sauntered to and took her other self in her arms. "It will be…magnificent."

"More than that," Celenike murmured as she returned her other self's embrace, and reaching up with one hand, caressed her cheek. "It will be spectacular…"

"…striking…" Celenike(II) whispered, lovingly bumping her forehead against Celenike's.

"…glorious…"

"…superb…"

"…majestic…"

"…breathtaking…"

"…grand…"

"…brilliant…"

"…dazzling…"

The last word was spoken together, and closing their eyes, their lips met.

* * *

Roche Frain Yggdmillennia calmly regarded the report on his cousin's success in London…

…and then dismissively threw it into the fireplace. Paper caught fire, and then turned to ash in a matter of moments.

Roche ignored it, and continued to work on his designs.

That is not to say he would not perform his role when the time came. After all, he was among the greatest of the current generation of Yggdmillennia's magi, and no doubt, Lord Darnic would summon him to bear witness as a plan delayed by decades due to a vampire's interference finally returned to its proper path.

But even if his cousin Sakura was among the few in the clan he could call a peer, Roche had no real interest in her success or failure.

If she failed, then she failed, and she would be punished for it.

If she succeeded, then she succeeded and she would be rewarded for it.

Nothing more and nothing less: what was there to be excited about?

Well…

…maybe there was something to be excited for.

Even if they managed to claim the Greater Grail and relocate it to Europe, it would long and hard work, years or even decades' worth of it, to fully harness its power for Yggdmillennia's glory. Those things called Servants…incarnated Heroic Spirits…

…Roche wanted to know and understand how they worked.

In a way, they were as golems themselves, with bodies made of and sustained by prana, animated by spirits from the beyond.

There was so much to learn, so much with which to push his art to heights it had yet to reach.

It was a shame, though, that Lord Darnic had commanded that Makiri Zolgen was to die. Roche also wanted to know and understand how a Dead Apostle – and one made from literal _worms_ no less – worked, no matter how much mere technicalities claimed they were not when in actuality they were.

Then again, perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. He might have to work with Celenike if it came to that, and Roche _hated _working with Celenike.

Roche was an artist, who breathed life into stone, earth, and metal, and taught them knowledge of the world around them.

Celenike was a butcher, no more and no less.

Even Fiore and Sakura, for all that they were dependent on using spirits as intermediaries to breathe life into their work, were more tolerable than Celenike was. Not that she wasn't useful, of course.

Roche completely understood why Lord Darnic had turned to her to support him in his vengeance against the vampire which had set him back for so many decades. It wasn't something he particularly liked, but Roche understood, regardless.

Shaking his head of such thoughts, Roche focused fully on his work.

What would come would come.

But right now, he had more important matters in mind.

An artist's work was never done, after all.

* * *

_London, Great Britain_

Rin Tohsaka blinked her eyes open, and softly parting her dried and patched lips, weakly groaned at the heavy and…foreignness, of her chest and arm. Above, the pastel colors of the ceiling merged into a coherent sight, and in the next moment, her ears picked up the sound of music gently filling the air.

For several moments, her mind sluggishly attempted to understand and identify the familiar notes, and then it came to her. Frederick Chopin's Nocturne in B Minor, (Op. 32), No. 1.

Slowly shifting in her sheets, Rin looked at the room around her. It was clearly that of a hospital, sparsely and cleanly-furnished, though she wondered at the record player sitting next to a person on a chair. It took a few moments, then Rin's eyes widened in recognition, and then narrowed with rage.

"YOU…!" she roared, pushing herself up…

…and then with a pained gasp, collapsed back into her bed, clutching at it with a hand as she felt something inside pull tight, just short of the breaking point. Then she looked down, and screamed at the sight of her left arm replaced by a bronze simulacrum.

Sakura patiently waited until Rin had calmed down before speaking, and even then, she let Rin speak first. "W-w-w-what have you done?" she demanded.

"We fought." Sakura said with a shrug. "You lost. Your heart was ruined and needed to be replaced. So Edelfelt and myself split the cost for one of Touko Aozaki's puppet hearts between us…seventy-thirty…my way."

Sakura made a disgusted sound while rolling her eyes. "Most elegant hyenas in the world my ass…" she said. "That woman haggled like a fishwife."

Rin was silent, and just stared at her younger sister. In particular, she didn't miss how Sakura's own left arm was tied up in a sling, and connected the dots quickly enough.

"…you took my crest…" Rin breathed in a voice heavy with loss and despair. "…you took my crest, didn't you?"

Sakura tilted her head curiously. "Well, yes." She said. "It was stipulated in our duel's conditions that the victor would be rightful bearer of the Tohsaka Crest. With your defeat, I claimed my rightful prize, and seeing as there is no point in wasting time, I had it implanted as soon as possible."

She didn't add that in addition to the crest, Sakura had had the tuners remove the circuits in Rin's left arm as well. Doing so crippled the arm, but Sakura had had that removed and replaced with a fully-functional puppet replacement as compensation for when Rin recovered.

But of course: every generation which bore the crest had the obligation to contribute to it and to succeeding generations. The circuits removed from Rin's left arm were alchemically-forged into the crest, just as Sakura would eventually add some of her circuits to it before passing it on to her successor.

That was still in the future though. And Rin didn't need to know what she didn't need to know.

"…unfortunately," Sakura said, lying through her teeth. "There were complications in the crest's removal, necessitating your arm's amputation. Don't worry, though: I've made sure to provide a proper replacement."

Rin immediately began to cry. "You expect me to thank you?" she sobbed. "You…you took everything from me…my pride…my crest…even my heart and arm…Sakura…what happened to you…?"

Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch. "_Did I break her or something?_" she silently asked herself. "_This…is this really…my older sister…the one who our father once said would become the greatest magi our family would ever produce…? Myself aside…what is this?_"

"I'm a magus, Rin." Sakura snapped, deciding to just answer her question with the honest truth. "I simply did what I had to do for the sake of the family, past, present, and future.

There was nothing personal in it."

"Our family…?" Rin bitterly echoed. "How can you even say that, when you…"

Sakura rolled her eyes and interrupted before Rin could continue with her mournful rant. Besides, Sakura could guess what she was about to say. No doubt, it would be some drivel meant to (ha!) shame her – Sakura – about her past actions, such as running away, humiliating their father, embarrassing their traditional ally (idiots – just what had their ancestors been on to actually ally with a flesh-eater and bloodsucker like Makiri Zolgen much less think it needed an heir or heiress), joining a band of upstarts, parvenus, and ne'er do wells (as most other magi saw them), and even turning against her own flesh and blood for that same band of…outcasts.

"Yes, our family." Sakura snapped, before lifting a folder filled with official documents next to her. "As per the terms of our duel, and my implantation with the Tohsaka Magic Crest, the Mages Association has officially recognized me as the Seventh Head of the Tohsaka lineage of magi…now fully a branch of the greater Yggdmillennia lineage of magi."

Rin stared at Sakura with disbelief and mounting horror. "…no…" she whispered while frantically shaking her head. "…no, NO, NO! You…Sakura…you…Sakura, you didn't!"

Sakura smiled cheerfully. "Welcome to the family," she said. "Rin Tohsaka _Yggdmillennia_."

* * *

A/N

Yeah, you know the part where Tokiomi would be going all Gendo Ikari about Rin and Sakura fighting for dominance in past chapters? It turns to horror and frantic screaming and denial here, with Sakura subsuming the Tohsaka as a whole into the greater Yggdmillennia lineage.


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 8

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Rin shouted, only to slump over, gasping and heaving, while clutching at her chest. A moment later, and Sakura was there, rubbing circles on Rin's back while wearing an expression of concern on her face.

"You shouldn't push yourself." Sakura said once Rin's breathing had stabilized. "Your puppet heart's only been recently implanted, so your body's still adjusting to it."

"…why do you even care?" Rin murmured, looking at Sakura with eyes filled with a mix of confusion, resentment, and gratitude.

Sakura straightened, looking at Rin with a slightly-offended expression on her face. "Despite what you might think," She began. "You're still my sister, Rin. Like I said earlier, none of this was personal. I simply did my duty to our family, and obeyed grandfather's orders to claim the Tohsaka Crest, and with it the leadership of the family. You would have done the same thing in my place."

Rin made an offended sound of outrage. "I would never…!" she began, only to be interrupted.

"Yes, you would." Sakura said. "And you already have. Over ten years ago, when father made the decision to cast me out of the family, it was explained to us why. The…supposed, tradition that only one magus is trained by the family in every generation, and the reasoning that it eliminates competition and potentially-dangerous rivalries…and you went along with father's decision at the time."

Sakura paused, and made a helpless gesture. "Well, I suppose there was little a six-year-girl could have done to oppose a grown man, and her father no less." She conceded. "But, consider this, if the you here and now could go back in time to that moment, would you stand against father?"

Rin looked away. "I…" she stammered out. "I must…I must trust in his judgment…"

Sakura nodded with a demonstrative hand gesture. "My point exactly." She said.

Rin scoffed. "And your actions in the present prove father right." She snapped.

Sakura snorted and then laughed. "Perhaps…" she conceded. "But I dare to ask: when all things are equal, why should the matter of inheritance be decided on a mere chance, that of accident of birth? What's fair about that? Where's the justice?"

"Life isn't fair, Sakura!"

Sakura's face twisted in disgust. "Then I will make it fair." She snarled. "I'm a magus. I make miracles happen. And if a miracle is what it takes to make it fair, then I will make it happen."

Rin looked away, and Sakura shrugged. "It's a meaningless tradition, anyway." She said. "You'd be surprised how few families actually follow it. Whether it's Yggdmillennia or our society as a whole, even if only one magus per generation actually receives the family's, just about everyone gets magus training. Only smalltime families who need to…compensate, for their wounded pride, follow tradition to the letter. And it's time for Tohsaka to stop being one of them."

Rin glared at Sakura, who was unfazed. "Just what do you plan to do with the crest, Sakura?" she demanded.

Sakura smirked. "Well," she said. "Going off where our conversation left off, I made things fair. With all things equal between us, inheritance was decided on proof of worth by victory in mortal combat."

Sakura paused, and then chuckled. "And the best part of it all, is that father would ultimately have approved." She said.

"…what did you say?" Rin breathed.

"Father was a proud and domineering man." Sakura said with a shrug. "He hid it well, but in hindsight, I can see it. The kind of man who'd go to any length necessary to ensure the best possible outcome. What we did a few days ago…a duel to the death – almost – to determine who should rightfully lead, here in the Clock Tower and witnessed by so many of our peers…Tohsaka's power and might for all magi to see…he would have been so proud."

"That's not true!" Rin vehemently denied.

"Hmm…search your feelings." Sakura said. "You know it's true."

"…even if it was!" Rin exploded. "How can you say he'd have been so proud…when a traitor and renegade like you dragged our family through the dirt, and humiliated us for all the world to see? Well, Sakura?"

"…I'm still of Tohsaka blood." Sakura cheerfully pointed out. "In fact my middle name is Tohsaka. That would have been satisfactory enough for father."

"You don't know that!"

Sakura leaned in. "Yes, I do." She said softly. "Otherwise, father would not have tried to send me to Matou in the first place. Even if I had become that heiress, sooner or later, we or our children would have come to blows over Heaven's Feel. Both you and he say it was meant to give me an equal opportunity, yes? If so…then you cannot deny it. He foresaw the possibility of the named and blooded Tohsaka being broken by Tohsaka-blooded Matou. And he was perfectly fine with it. Why? Because precisely that: _Tohsaka-blooded _Matou. Either way, our family would win."

Sakura leaned back, and smiled sympathetically. "You're supposed to be a genius, Rin." She said. "Every bit my equal…if I could connect the dots, then you can as well."

Rin looked away, fighting back the urge to spill the tears pooling in our eyes, and unwilling to admit the truth of what Sakura had said. "What do you really plan to do with the crest, Sakura?" she demanded instead.

"Grandfather is of the opinion that the Tohsaka family being split between an…independent, and Yggdmillennia lines, is both awkward and problematic." Sakura replied. "Since you are unlikely in the extreme to accept an invitation to join us, then it was deemed necessary to claim the crest and with it leadership of the family to resolve the situation."

Rin sneered. "And it's such an honor to be one of you." She spat.

Sakura's face hardened. "Be thankful that grandfather was willing for you to go down in a dignified and respectable manner." She said. "He could easily have ordered you murdered or worse instead to get your crest."

"Dignified and respectable?" Rin seethed, ignoring the tightening of her chest.

"Are you a magus or are you not?" Sakura asked back. "You went down fighting, demonstrating your skill and finesse both in terms of magecraft and physical ability. You lost, yes, but honor is satisfied. Had you simply been murdered…well, you know how things are here in the Clock Tower, or indeed, the Mages Association in general. Or do you mean to tell me that you came here unaware and unprepared for the realities of magi society?"

"And you Yggdmillennia are any better?" Rin asked.

"We _are _family, Rin." Sakura said. "While there remains duty and responsibility, as well as reward and punishment for success and failure respectably, family _is _family. The Tree of the Thousand Realms is just that: a tree. The leaves that dance in the Sun, the branches that form the crown, the trunk that holds them high, and the roots that grow in the dark: all are one, to stand or fall together."

Rin scoffed. "And?" she challenged. "What's going to be my place in that tree of yours, dear sister?"

"You don't have to be so hostile." Sakura said. "Like I said, it was nothing personal."

Rin scoffed again. "Really?" she said. "It certainly felt personal to me."

Sakura sighed. "Alright then," she said. "If you really want to know, then your place is…just be yourself."

"…what?"

"What?" Sakura asked with a smile. "Did you actually think we'd stop you from pursuing your studies? From being all you can be? By all means, go ahead. Climb as high as you want, go as far as you can go, be the strongest you can be…all the glory that you attain shall echo over all Yggdmillennia as well."

"…and what are you getting out of this?" Rin asked.

Sakura smiled, _truly _smiling for the first time since Rin met her in person after so long. It was a familiar smile, no matter how much time had passed, and one Rin had missed for so very long. It made her forget almost everything Sakura had done to her in recent times.

"I get my big sister back." Sakura earnestly said. "The two of us will be together again, the Tohsaka Yggdmillennia sisters."

It was so honest, genuine and heartfelt in a way Rin hadn't expected from the woman who'd stabbed her in the heart, and had taken away her arm and their family's crystallized legacy. Rationality fought sentiment, throwing Rin's mind into turmoil, rage bleeding away into longing.

Rin simply didn't know how to respond.

"…are you happy, Sakura?" she asked in a whisper. "Did Yggdmillennia make you happy?"

"Yes." Sakura earnestly replied. "And I'll be even happier if you join me, and everyone else, in the Tree of the Thousand Realms, big sister."

A hand was extended, wrapped in white velvet. Rin stared at it for a long moment, and then took Sakura in, wearing her white uniform jacket with gold embroidery and ornamental buttons in front, and gold rank stripes over the cuffs and shoulders, over black pants and boots. Then she imagined herself wearing that same uniform, standing alongside Sakura as they should always have been.

_It's a meaningless tradition anyway._

_…few families actually follow it._

_Only smalltime families…follow tradition to the letter…_

_…it's time for Tohsaka to stop being one of them._

Rin smiled weakly, staring at Sakura's offered hand, and briefly trembled as she comprehended the personal enormity of what it represented. "I…I need to think about it." She stammered out, and making sure to meet Sakura's own eyes. "I…I…I want to be your sister again…I always have…but…I…"

Sakura lowered her hand, nodding and smiling in understanding. "I understand." She voiced her sentiment. "If you need time, then I will give you time. But…don't take too long either, big sister."

"Y-yes…of course…just…just give me time." Rin stammered out with a dry swallow.

Sakura nodded, and then turned to leave. "Oh yes," she said, pausing after taking only a few steps. "You don't need to worry about medical fees. I'll handle those myself. Until we meet again, big sister."

Rin jerkily nodded, and nodding back, Sakura left. Once the doors closed behind her, Rin allowed her inner turmoil to spill out, and clutching at herself, began to cry. She didn't know if it was out of joy or grief or rage or something else, she just let it all out, and cried her heart out.

* * *

"I can't believe you're actually even considering accepting her offer!" Shirou exploded. "Tohsaka, have you forgotten that…that woman, all but literally cut your heart out? And your arm…! Isn't the whole reason it's had to be replaced because of her?"

"I know!" Rin shot back, clenching her fists as she did so. Raising her left hand, she silently regarded her bronze digits and flexed them a few times before clenching them again. "I know…how could I not possibly know?"

"Then why?" Shirou demanded.

"Because she's my little sister, that's why!" Rin shouted. "And…and…she's not wrong. She isn't…not completely…"

"…what?" Shirou breathed in incomprehension.

"While her opinions with regard to inheritance being decided by mortal combat are…troubling," Luvia remarked from where she was seated on an armchair. "She's not wrong when she said the tradition of one magus per generation in a family isn't followed by everybody. It isn't. In fact, to my knowledge, _none _of the noble families do. Even if only the head and branch heads actually have crests, just about every member of their families knows how to use magecraft."

"As for following orders from your elders and superiors…" Rin bitterly said. "…let's be real: that's not limited to magi. _Everyone _in the world is taught and expected to obey their elders and superiors."

"Oh so when you're told just to jump off a cliff, you'd do it, right?" Shirou heatedly asked, bringing up some spine.

"No, of course not." Luvia said with a roll of her eyes, though she narrowed them soon enough. "But…when it comes to one's parents…can you really go against their will?"

"Yes…if it's the right thing to do." Shirou said. "Sakura clearly did it. I don't approve of her actions now, but running away as though out of spite at seemingly not being wanted…I can understand what she felt and did at the time. It's a stupid tradition, anyway, and it seems a lot of magi agree."

"…we'd never put it so bluntly, but point taken." Luvia said with a nod, while tapping her fingers against her armrests. "But you make it sound so easy. Let's see…your father is Kiritsugu Emiya, isn't he, Shero?"

Shirou blinked and looked at Luvia quizzically. "Wait…how'd you know about that?" he asked.

Luvia smiled. "I didn't." she said. "Not until you confirmed it for me with that reaction of yours. But, he had quite the reputation in his day, your father that is."

"What?"

Luvia smiled wider. "I imagine you look up to him, don't you?" she asked. "You take him as an example, a model to live your life by?"

"…what's this all about, Luvia?" Shirou asked.

Luvia briefly closed her eyes. "Let's see how easily you can put aside loyalty to a parent," she said. "Look up his files in the public archives. Trust me, you'll understand when you see them."

Shirou looked confused and uncertain, while Luvia ran her fingers through her hair thoughtfully. "Sakura…Sakura Tohsaka Ygddmillennia…" she said softly. "She's quite the paradox…she broke the bond of family by running away…and her blood family at that…but held true to the bonds with her adopted family…"

Shirou briefly looked down in thought, but lifted his head when Rin began to speak. "They gave her everything." She said with resentment, envy, and sadness. "They made her into who she is today, everything she could ever be. We never could…all we could do was pass responsibility on to somebody else…whether it's Matou or Yggdmillennia…we…I…"

Rin trailed off, looking away, fighting the urge to cry even as tears slipped past her eyelids and made their way down her cheeks. "…I'm sorry, Emiya." She said with a sniffle. "But…I…I can't let it go…I can't let this chance go…to have my little sister back…no matter what she's done…when she's finally offering me her hand and a place in her life again…I can't let it go…not just for me…my mother as well…"

"…your mother…" Shirou whispered. "Aunt Aoi…?"

Rin nodded, and wiped at her eyes. "She…she never really got over Sakura running away…" she said. "She always blamed herself…always believed that if she did something different…then Sakura would still have been with us…we'd still be one big happy family…even after…after father…after he all but erased the fact that Sakura ever existed as part of our family…mother…she always…she always…"

Falling silent, Rin clenched her fists repeatedly, staring at the bronze digits of the puppet prosthetic that was her left arm. And then with a snarl of rage and frustration, smashed the railings of her bed. Shirou immediately got to his feet with an alarmed yell, Luvia silently doing likewise.

"…to hell with it." Rin spat. "The crest has brought me nothing but pain. Literally so, even…if it means putting what's left of my family together…if it means having to become just another leaf on a branch of the Tree of the Thousand Realms…then so be it. Losing the crest to Sakura is a small price to pay."

"Tohsaka…think about this…" Shirou cautioned.

"I'm in agreement with Shero." Luvia agreed. "While it is true that Yggdmillennia will allow you to continue being a magus, to be all you can be if only to share in your glory by virtue of bearing their name, keep in mind what you owe to your ancestors. If you accept your little sister's offer, no matter how honorable and dignified your defeat in battle was, that will be the last note the name 'Tohsaka' will strike in history as itself. Everything henceforth will be under the name of Yggdmillennia, Tohsaka just being one of their many branches."

"…are you saying I should just turn my back on my sister?" Rin demanded after a moment. "Lose this chance to finally set things right, even if only in part, for the sake of my own empty pride?"

"If you are a magus…the last _wholly _Tohsaka magus, then yes." Luvia said, and then held up her hand. "No…allow me to rephrase that. I would not say to turn your back on your sister, rather, negotiate for continued reconciliation, even if it means surrendering what little is left of your and your successors' claim on the crest, but do not abandon your name, your ancestor's name, in the process."

"I agree." Shirou said with a nod. "While I just can't forgive your sister for stabbing you in the heart and causing you to lose your arm, I understand I can't really hold that against her. Not really…it's a battle that can't be won, not when trying to fight it is like fighting the entire Mages Association, given how official the duel was and the outcome is. Also…just as a I sympathize with her running away, I can also sympathize with what you and your mother feel. That said…don't throw everything away either, Tohsaka!"

"Even if you lose your crest now," Luvia said. "It is not the end. You can still always rebuild your family's legacy despite recent setbacks. I'm not saying it won't be hard, and there will have to be sacrifices on your part, but it's not impossible."

"In short," Shirou said with a grateful nod at Luvia, the latter smiling back at him. "You can just start over again…Rin."

Rin blinked, and looked at Shirou with wide eyes, this being the first time he's ever addressed her by name. She then turned to Luvia, who smiled and nodded encouragingly at her. Rin then lowered her face, their words echoing in her mind…

…but then that memory of Sakura holding out a hand to her came back, and it brought back memories of their mother sitting by herself at her dresser, holding a picture…

…the last and only picture left from times past, the rest having been destroyed by an enraged and humiliated patriarch…

…and silently shedding tears for past mistakes and regrets…

Rin clutched at herself. "I…I need…I need to think about this some more…" she said. "Please…just…just let me think…"

Shirou looked like he wanted to say something, but a hand on his shoulder from Luvia forestalled him. "I understand." Luvia solemnly said instead. "Take all the time you need, Tohsaka."

Rin jerkily gave a nod, and with a silent gesture, Luvia motioned for Shirou to follow and speak with her outside.

* * *

"I have to say, I'm impressed, Shero." Luvia said with veiled approval. They were in a waiting area in the ward, a short walk away from Rin's room. "I'd expected you to hold fast, and push Tohsaka to oppose Tohsaka Yggdmillennia no matter what."

"Like I said…while I won't forgive her for what she's done, it's not a battle I can win." Shirou said bitterly. "I'm a magus too, even if I'm not a particularly good one. If Sakura had used another way, like say…murdering Rin, or ambushing thenknocking her out before stealing her crest afterwards or something like that…then yes, I'd have gone after them no matter what. And I'm sure Rin would have too."

"Hmm…and I doubt the Association would have let it go too." Luvia said. "Well…seeing as Tohsaka Yggdmillennia would have been the only remaining one of her branch it might have passed as _fait accompli_, but I digress."

"I don't like to admit it," Shirou said. "But by challenging and defeating Rin in a formal and public duel, Sakura won the crest and leadership of the family fair and square. That said…"

"You don't trust her." Luvia said. It wasn't a question.

"Should I?" Shirou asked. "And do you?"

"…that depends on you." Luvia said while closing her eyes. "And strangely enough, I do, at least in part. Enough to not oppose her receiving the crest, at any rate."

Shirou looked at Luvia curiously, and then his eyes widened in comprehension. "You could have done something, couldn't you?" he asked.

"I could have." Luvia said, and then raised a hand to forestall Shirou's response. "But not one that would have helped Tohsaka, at least not in the way you want. As you know, Tohsaka and I are second cousins…but what you may not know, is that the marriage between her grandparents was _not _sanctioned by my family's leadership at the time. To stop Tohsaka Yggdmillennia from claiming the crest would require me to claim it in my family's name. I'd almost certainly win such a case…but I wouldn't be able to give the crest back to Tohsaka. Not without her – and by extension, her family – formally becoming a branch of the greater Edelfelt lineage."

"Not much of a difference in the end…" Shirou grumbled.

"And would lead my family into a political collision with the Yggdmillennia." Luvia said with a nod. "We'd probably win, but it'd be more trouble than it's worth."

"…I guess it wouldn't be fair either to ask your family for so much." Shirou said with a sigh. "Fair…fair…fair…I hate to admit it, but I can't help but agree that Sakura has a point there. The world shouldn't have to be unfair. It'd take a miracle to pull it off but…"

"It's a twisted line of reasoning," Luvia softly said. "But I see her point."

Shirou hummed in agreement. "So what now?" he asked.

"That all depends on Tohsaka." Luvia said. "If nothing else, be there for her. I don't think there's anything between you, apart from what exists between master and apprentice…as well as those forged between those who walked together on the same side of the battlefield."

Shirou nodded slowly. "I'll do what I can." He said.

Luvia nodded back. "That's all that can really be asked of you, Shero." She said.

* * *

Sakura finished reading the instructions from Trifas, and then handed it to Caules. Caules took it, and quickly read it through. "I see." He eventually said. "So the plan is moving onto the next stage."

"Yes." Sakura said with a nod, before sliding over on the couch until her head was resting on Caules' lap. A hand went down, and gently began stroking Sakura's head. "Though it's only to be expected, grandfather not being one to waste time. As soon as my crest has stabilized, we're to take command of an advance force, and head to Fuyuki to prepare for grandfather's arrival."

"And to minimize delay," Caules added. "We're to settle outstanding affairs and issues here in the Clock Tower, and then you're to rendezvous with Uncle Gordes in Germany to see if he can safely speed up your crest's integration."

Sakura hummed in agreement. "Grandfather's taking quite the risk, isn't he?" Caules observed. "Crests are touchy things at the best of times. I mean, just look at my sister. And there are plenty of other cases wherein crests backfired on their recipients. And yet…here we are, grandfather wanting to hurry up your crest's stabilization, just so we can proceed."

"It's understandable." Sakura said. "He doesn't want busybodies from tampering with his prize, after all. As for the risk…well, we're magi. Anytime we use magecraft, we run the risk of tearing our minds, bodies, and even our souls, to pieces."

"Hmm…true…and I guess if anyone knows how to safely pull off what grandfather wants to happen, it's Uncle Gordes." Caules conceded.

"Hmm…" Sakura hummed in agreement. "Though, this might also prove an opportunity."

"Oh?"

Sakura smiled up at Caules. "In addition to the Grail," she said. "There's another treasure waiting in Fuyuki. Well, for me at least."

"…your mother."

"Hmm…she hasn't been my mother – not really – in over ten years." Sakura sadly remarked. "I wonder how she'd take my reappearance? Hopefully well…if so, then there's a good chance she'd practically guarantee a reconciliation between my sister and myself."

Caules laughed and nodded. "It'd be real nice if it were to turn out like that, right?" he asked.

"…it really would be." Sakura admitted. "But…the world doesn't always work like that."

"What will you do if it doesn't?" Caules asked.

"…it'd be a real shame," Sakura said softly. "If Rin would refuse to join us. I can't force her, I suppose. Though, I wonder what future she and hers will have in that case, when she'd be publicly rebelling against her head of house."

"…it'd affect you too, wouldn't it?" Caules sadly remarked. "They'd say you're a poor leader, unable to inspire obedience and loyalty from the rest of your family."

"I don't really care about that." Sakura said while briefly closing her eyes. "But it would cause trouble, so let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"And if it does?"

"Then we'll just have to make sure it doesn't, won't we?"

Caules smiled and nodded, Sakura reaching up to take a lock of his brown hair and twirling it around her finger. "None of us have gotten this far by being reckless." She said. "So we should make plans just in case."

"Good idea…" Caules agreed, though his expression turned wry. "And I wouldn't say the former about you."

"Oh?"

"Who was the one who ran away from home as a child and almost froze to death, hmm?" Caules teased.

Sakura pouted and shoved at her fiancé with mock offense. It was true, though. It had been incredibly stupid of her…and at the same time, very smart. After what her grandfather had told her about the Matou, and the fate that would have awaited her had she _not _run away…

…it didn't bear thinking.

Still, she _would _have frozen to death, had not Yggdmillennia's agents not run into her. And it hadn't been coincidence, either. For over a decade before then, Fuyuki had been under observation by Yggdmillennia for possible opportunities to exploit among other things, and when word had gone out that one of Tohsaka's heiresses had gone missing – and inexplicably enough (or not), Tohsaka had made only token efforts to find her – orders had gone out to find and recruit said heiress, a grand opportunity that only turned out to be even grander once Sakura's potential was discovered.

"I was lucky…very lucky." Sakura said, pushing herself up to a sitting position. "And it's not very smart to depend on luck."

"Hmm…that it isn't." Caules agreed.

* * *

A/N

Yes, Aoi is alive. Why wouldn't she be? Sakura not becoming a Matou means Kariya has no reason to return to Zouken and become the Matou Master for the Fourth Holy Grail War, and as mentioned by Waver in a previous chapter, that role fell to Byakuya (read: drunken loser and nobody). And if Kariya isn't a Master, then Aoi wouldn't have been driven to insanity or an early death.


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 9

"A leave of absence…" Waver read aloud, before lowering the official request form he'd received from Caules. He regarded that exact same magus across his desk with a neutral expression on his face, before turning back to the request form. "…to attend to private family affairs in Germany…"

Caules silently and stoically met Waver's gaze as the lord looked back at him, and after a few moments, Waver sat back in his seat, hands clasped before him. "…I won't ask for the details," he eventually said. "No matter how much I want to, as that would be a breach of protocol, and I'm still dealing with the fallout from the last breach of protocol in my vicinity. Nevertheless…I must ask: what is the general scope of your business in Germany?"

"I will be accompanying my cousin to see our Uncle Gordes." Caules answered.

"Hmm…and why exactly does your uncle require the presence of both of you?" Waver asked.

"My apologies, but that is private, my lord." Caules said with a bow.

Waver hummed unhappily, but after a few moments he leaned forward, and placed his signature on the form. He then stamped it with his approval, and added his signature to that as well. "Thank you, my lord." Caules said with a bow, as he received the form back.

"Caules," Waver said, and giving the younger magus pause at the serious tone of the lord's voice. "I understand why you assisted your cousin in her preparations for her duel during the last week. And I don't blame you for it, family being what it is. That said…never forget that there is always a choice, that we can always choose to do better, and that we are who we choose to be."

Caules stayed silent, keeping his expression veiled but otherwise allowing his body language to show his confusion at this turn of the conversation. "You are a promising young man, Caules." Waver said with a nod and a rare smile. "I'd hate to see you squander it all away."

Caules still didn't know what to say, and after another moment, Waver gestured his dismissal. "You may go." He said.

"Yes, my lord." Caules said with another bow. "And thank you again."

Waver nodded, and smartly turning on his heel, Caules left Waver's office. Waver stared at the younger magus' back as he walked away, and once the doors had been closed behind him, gave a sigh before sitting back in his seat again. "You worry for him." Grey remarked from where she was standing in a corner. "You think he'll throw away his chance to walk his own path, and make a name for himself, all to sacrifice himself for Yggdmillennia."

"I do." Waver said.

"But," Grey began. "Isn't that what it means to be a magus? Ours is not to walk our own path, not truly, but instead to continue charting the path began and left off by those who came before…?"

"Maybe…maybe…" Waver agreed. "And if Caules were his family's – whether Forvedge or the greater Yggdmillennia lineage's – heir, that would be beyond question. But he isn't. He's a spare, specifically of the Forvedge branch of the Yggdmillennia. While it is traditional for spares and the like to continue supporting their family, I find such to be a waste. It is the heir's duty, burden, and privilege to continue their family's legacy…but those who do not inherit should have the right to choose and make their own futures, their own legacies."

"…is that why you disapprove of Tohsaka Yggdmillennia?" Grey asked after a moment.

"…I suppose so." Waver said while briefly closing his eyes. "Instead of writing her own story, she chose to forcibly continue her ancestors' story, essentially throwing away her freedom and chance to just be herself. What a waste…"

Grey was silent, and after a few moments, Waver sighed. "And the worst part is that she just might force her older sister…the one she broke and humiliated with her own hands…" he lamented. "…to continue writing the story with her…"

Waver trailed off, and after a few more moments, sighed and shook his head. "Oh well," he said. "It's a pointless line of thought, anyway. It's not like I can do anything about either of them, considering they're from different departments. Still, it's such a waste…and I'd hate for Caules to end up getting dragged down with them."

"…look on the bright side, my lord." Grey added after a moment and a reassuring smile. "At least you can do something about Caules. He is from our department, after all."

"Hmm…maybe…but that's only if he lets me help him…"

Sighing once more, Waver glanced at the stack of paperwork on one side of his desk, and taking the sheet on top, returned to work.

* * *

Escaping gasses hissed as Svin opened the bottle of black beer, and then poured for himself and Caules. "I see." Svin said. "Off to Germany, then. For how long?"

"That depends," Caules replied, before taking his glass and toasting Svin. "On how long our business takes."

Svin hummed in acknowledgement, and returning Caules' toast, took a drink. Then setting his glass down, raised an eyebrow his friend's way. "And?" he asked. "What exactly is this business of yours in Germany."

"We…well, actually, _Sakura_ needs to see our Uncle Gordes." Caules answered. "He's a tuner, you see, and since Sakura received her crest only recently…"

Svin nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I see the concern there." He said. "While it isn't as dangerous as an adult receiving the crest, it's still not as good as getting it when she was still a child."

"…considering all the effort she went through to get that crest," Caules said with a sigh. "Grandfather doesn't want to take any chances, even if the tuners our family have here in London are pretty good themselves. He wants Uncle Gordes to check it himself, and to make any necessary adjustments."

"…makes sense." Svin agreed with another nod. "Though, why are you going with Sakura, if it's _her_ crest that's the issue?"

"I'm her fiancé, remember?" Caules said, before taking a drink of his beer. "I have to be there to support her. It's expected of me."

"True enough."

That, and once they were done in Germany, Caules and Sakura were to lead the advance force to Japan, specifically to Fuyuki City on the island of Kyushu. There, they would prepare for their grandfather and the main force's arrival, to claim their long-denied prize. And then the _real _work would begin.

But Svin didn't need to know that.

It made Caules feel bad, keeping such a thing from Svin, but he consoled himself that he wasn't actually lying to his friend. No untruths were being spoken here, just facts being withheld. And in the end, that was just part of being a magus. The secrets and agendas of the family need not be shared with others unless it be necessary.

And Caules was a magus.

"…good luck then," Svin was saying with a small smile. "Here's to your cousin getting the best possible outcome."

Caules nodded and smiled back. "Thanks," he said. "I'll be sure to pass it along."

* * *

"Going somewhere…?"

"I need to visit my uncle in Germany." Sakura replied, walking up to Rin's hospital bed. The older woman had been reading a book when Sakura had entered her room, and now set it aside to focus on her visitor. "Private – _family _– business…though, I'm still looking forward to the day when that's private between us as well…"

Rin briefly looked away. "I…I still need to think some more about it…" she stammered out.

Sakura nodded. "I understand." She said.

Rin blinked, and then smiled softly at Sakura. "You know," she hopefully began. "When the two of us have some free time, we could go see mother together. She's missed you so much…even more than I ever did…she never forgave herself for not being able to do more for you…so…"

Sakura blinked, and briefly closing her eyes, thought to herself how she might just be meeting with Aoi Tohsaka sooner than Rin thought. And that just might be what was needed to bring the family back together, as it should be: Aoi Tohsaka _Yggdmillennia_.

"…I wouldn't mind that, no." Sakura said with a nod and a smile. "Though, right now, you should focus on getting well."

Rin briefly closed her eyes and nodded. "Guess I should," she said, before her smile turned teasing. "Though, I wouldn't be here if not for you."

"…like I said, it wasn't personal."

"No," Rin said softly. "I suppose it wasn't."

Silence fell between the two sisters, and then reaching out with her free hand, the other immobile due to its arm being held in a sling, Sakura squeezed Rin's shoulder reassuringly. "Get well soon." Sakura said.

Rin nodded. "And you have a safe trip, now." She said. "Have a good time too with your uncle."

Sakura smiled wider. "I will." She said. "Well then, I'll be going."

"Alright then…goodbye."

"Yes…goodbye, for now."

Sharing nods between them, Sakura then turned and left the room. Once the door had closed behind her, Rin sighed, and briefly regarding her book, instead lay down against her bed. Closing her eyes, she let the stirring turmoil of her thoughts settle down, and opening her eyes before the shadow of sleep could claim her, sat back up to resume her reading.

* * *

_Einzbern Castle, Germany_

The trip from Britain to Germany was quick.

It took only two hours to fly from London to Munich, along with a total of five hours inside Heathrow and Munich International Airport combined between immigration, customs, and all the other make-work that came with travelling from one country to the next. By then it was past ten in the evening already, and Sakura and Caules had a late dinner in the city before retiring for the night in a Munich hotel.

Come the morning and following a quick breakfast, it took about two hours by train to reach the station where Yggdmillennia couriers were waiting, and then another hour by car to the (former) Einzbern territory inside the Black Forest. Just past noon, and the imposing bulk of Einzbern Castle was looming overhead.

"Well…this feels very welcoming." Caules remarked as they stepped out of the car. Instead of the Yggdmillennia uniform, he wore a pinstriped, button down shirt with long sleeves under a dark-colored vest and over matching trousers and running shoes. Dress appropriately for the situation, and all that, the Yggdmillennia uniform being too…unusual, for everyday wear outside of the Clock Tower and similar places.

"Feels just like home." Sakura cheerfully said. Like Caules, she was also in casual clothes, in her case a white, long-sleeved blouse under a red vest, worn with a knee-length skirt in black over matching leggings and running shoes. Unlike Caules, she wore a cravat, pinned with a gold brooch bearing the Yggdmillennia emblem in raised relief.

"…not surprising," Caules said after a moment. "Castles and old families do tend to go together…shall we go in?"

Sakura nodded her assent, falling into step next to Caules, and letting the homunculi handle their luggage. Doors made from oak banded with bronze opened with an ominous rumble, allowing the two magi to enter the foyer…no, not foyer, entrance _hall _of Einzbern castle, all worn grey stone rising up to a vaulted ceiling, the floor covered with slabs of stone worked to make a relief of the Einzbern Seal.

A tall and portly man stood waiting for them in the middle of the hall, accompanied by an honor guard of homunculi. Sakura's face split wide with a grin at the sight. "Meister…!" she said, picking up the pace, quickly closing the distance, and then stopping a few steps in front of him, bowed low.

Gordes returned the smile, and stepping closer to his finest student yet, placed a hand on her shoulder warmly. "Little Sakura, it is good to see you well after so long!" he rumbled, before turning to Caules with a nod. "Caules…"

"…Uncle Gordes." Caules returned the nod.

Gordes now turned back to Sakura. "It's good to see you well too, Meister." Sakura said.

Gordes waved her off, and then gestured for them to follow as he led the way further into the castle. "Purely appearances, I'm afraid." He said gravely. "I've been very overworked over the past several months, trying to open Jubstacheit's archives. I've made progress, though I could have done better. That said, the libraries, alchemical labs, forges and foundries, coining facilities, armories, stores, and repositories have proven to be easy to reclaim. I have my other apprentices and assistants working over there as we speak."

"It's still far more than I or anyone else, except perhaps grandfather, could have done in your place, Meister." Sakura said. "While the archives are the true prize, what's been reclaimed already represent what would take us and other families, centuries to achieve on our own. And I have no doubt that you will crack the archives sooner rather than later, Meister."

Gordes laughed and nodded. "You have my thanks for your confidence, little Sakura." He said. "However, sooner is an undefined unit of time…though admittedly, better than later."

"As you say, Meister."

"And you underestimate yourself, little Sakura." Gordes pointed out. "Along with little Fiore, you are the brightest jewel in the crown of our Tree of the Thousand Realms. Should you be at your fullest ability, I am of the opinion you could have achieved more here in the same amount of time as I have."

"I am honored by your praise," Sakura said with a bow. "But I must say you flatter me. I am not an alchemist. Even if my skills and talents are as great as you make them out to be, your duties within this castle are ill-fitted for me. You remain the greatest authority short of grandfather in this matter, Meister."

"Perhaps, perhaps…" Gordes conceded while tugging at his moustache. Turning a corner and through another pair of doors then an antechamber beyond, a pair of homunculi saluted before opening the doors leading into the Great Hall. Warmth and the scent of food greeted them, lunch clearly having been prepared in anticipation of their arrival.

"Let us discuss this matter further over a good meal, shall we, little ones?" Gordes asked, and both Caules and Sakura nodded. "Very good, very good…while I am of course willing to discuss in further detail my own work here in Einzbern Castle, I am also very interested in the current state of your studies over at London. And in your case as well, little Sakura, I'd like to hear in your own words of your duel with your older sister. The official report was just so dry, bereft of the emotion that would have befitted such a grand confrontation."

"I would be happy to oblige, Meister." Sakura said with a smile. "Though, here and now, I can tell you that your gift served me well."

Gordes puffed up and nodded proudly at the reference to the saber he'd gifted to Sakura a few years ago, the same saber which she'd used to duel and defeat Rin. And she was only the latest on the list of magi felled – fatally or not – by Sakura in a duel, and very likely not the last. "I'm glad to hear that." He said, before eyeing Caules. "You too, Caules! You might not be as gifted as your sister and your cousin, but you still have talent of your own, regardless! I'll not have you disregarding your own obligations!"

Caules laughed and held up his hands. "Rest assured, uncle," he said. "I've been doing my part to the best of my abilities. And of course, I'd be happy to tell you all about it…over lunch."

"Splendid!" Gordes boomed. "Now come! Our meal is getting cold!"

"Yes, uncle."

"Yes, Meister."

* * *

Gordes hummed thoughtfully as he peeled away the last layer of the bandages wrapped around Sakura's left arm, and exposed the flesh beneath. Its appearance resembled that of half-cooked meat, glistening and pink, carved through with sore and throbbing lines that were the circuits which made up the Tohsaka Magic Crest. It was clean though, the fluids coating the skinless and lacerated flesh clear and glossy, with neither blood nor pus showing any sign of infection or decay. Indeed, for those who knew what to look for, the signs of the arm knitting together were already there.

"What did Rieger tell you?" Gordes asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Keep the initial bandaging for three days after the implantation." She said. "Absolutely do not let them or the crest and the arm get wet, and absolutely do not use any of the magic circuits in my arm, much less the crest itself. Oh, and I shouldn't stress the arm at all, if possible."

Gordes nodded thoughtfully. "Is that all?" he prompted.

"…starting on the fourth day," Sakura replied. "And for the next two weeks, replace the bandages twice a day, making sure to rinse the arm beforehand with warm and sterile – preferably by boiling – water. No soap…oh, and add this cream before replacing the bandages. Just enough to coat the crest and the surrounding flesh, but not so much that it cakes over."

Sakura indicated the jar of cream nearby, which Gordes picked up. Opening it, he took a sample with a gloved finger, and sniffing once, murmured an aria. The sample of cream glowed and then crumbled, causing Gordes to smile and nod approvingly.

"Not bad…not bad…" he said, sealing the jar and replacing it on the examination table. "And…your medicines?"

Sakura gestured at the other things she brought, boxes of bagged herbal mixtures, as well as vials filled with circular pills of white. "The prescribed herbal tea, at least one liter per day." She said. "Not necessarily all at once, but I must take that much every twenty-four-hour period. And the bone pills as well, every four hours."

"For how long?" Gordes asked.

"A whole year," Sakura said. "Afterwards, I'm to see him before stopping my intake of prescribed supplements with regard to the crest."

"…standard procedure…nothing to fault there…" Gordes murmured, before taking one of the teabags and giving it a whiff. Nodding in approval, he took one of the pills next, and breaking it down nodded in approval again. "Did he ask you to see him before the year is up?"

"Once the two weeks are done, then yes." Sakura said with a nod. "We'd decided whether or not to remove the bandages then, and if I could start using the crest as well."

Gordes nodded again. "I'd have given the same instructions myself." He said. "Still…while I'd prefer we take this slow, needs must."

Sakura nodded. "I understand, Meister." She said.

"Nevertheless," Gordes continued. "We mustn't take too many risks, and potentially compromise the crest, or worse the rest of your arm and body."

Sakura nodded, and Gordes pulled at his moustache in thought. "…how long has it been since you received your crest?" he asked.

"Slightly over a week."

"…hmm, very well…we'll continue with the standard recovery procedures until the initial three-day and two-week period is done." Gordes firmly decided. "Pushing that is just too dangerous. After that, we'll let your arm rest on its own for another two weeks, while I prepare a certain mystic code for you, and new medicines as well."

"Meister?" Sakura asked curiously.

"There's a certain mystic code that should let you use your crest once initial recovery is done." Gordes explained. "It'll take a full Lunar cycle to prepare however, and even then there's a time limit to safely use your crest in per day, though it may vary from person to person. And specific chemical modifiers are needed to keep it safe, hence the new medicines."

"I understand."

"I'll consult with Rieger in London, and of course, I will inform and explain to Lord Darnic these developments." Gordes continued before smiling grandly. "In the meantime, I'll have you and Caules stay here and enjoy the hospitality of Einzbern Castle."

"We'd be glad to remain with you here, Meister." Sakura said with a smile. "And…we'd be honored if you let us help you in your duties here."

Gordes harrumphed. "And yet," he said with faux-mockery. "Earlier you were saying how our duties here were ill-suited to your skills and abilities, were you not?"

Sakura sheepishly laughed, and rubbed the back of her head with her free hand. "…we…_I _would like to be of any assistance regardless." She finished.

Gordes nodded. "Very well," he said. "I'm sure we could use your hands while you are here. For now, though, let's clean your crest and replace your bandages, and then you can have the rest of the day to settle in. Work can begin tomorrow."

"Yes, Meister."

* * *

"…I'm not sure if Uncle Gordes is trying to be funny…" Caules said while placing his and Sakura's uniform jackets and other tops on hangers before placing them inside the walk-in closet of the suite they'd been assigned.

"He probably thinks that since we'll be getting married sooner or later, it's not really an issue if we share the same set of rooms." Sakura said, busy placing her and Caules' underwear in separate drawers. "Or for that matter, the same bed."

Caules sighed and scratched his head. As awkward as the whole situation was, Sakura _technically_ wasn't wrong. Since both he and her were due to get married at some point in the near future, them sharing the same suite and bed was no real issue in the eyes of magi society. Even more so, given how…utilitarian, magi tended to see sexual relations.

Whether it was a means of sharing prana, or breeding stronger and smarter future generations of magi, and whether or not actual romance was involved, it was amazing really, how such a conservative society and culture like that of the magi, had such a…liberal, perspective on love and sex. No doubt, religion's near-nonexistent influence on magi society (religion being one of the biggest opponents of sexual liberalism regardless of the sect in question) was another major contributor to that way of thinking…and again, another wondrous paradox, of conservative magi society being free of stifling religious dogmatism.

Then again…the three factions of the Clock Tower, plus the countless smaller factions within, could be argued as subverting the latter of those paradoxes.

"…Caules…Caules…Caules…!"

Caules jolted as he felt Sakura firmly but gently shaking him by a shoulder. "W-w-w-what?" he stammered out.

"You spaced out there for several moments." Sakura said. "Is something wrong?"

"No…" Caules said while adjusting his glasses. "Nothing's wrong. Just…got too deep thinking about our circumstances…not that I really have any problems with it, of course. Just a bit awkward, that's all…"

Sakura stared at Caules for a long moment, and then smiling, leaned in to give him a chaste kiss on a cheek. "Not surprised…" she said, before turning back to her share of their clothes to put inside the walk-in-closet. "We grew up together, so it can't be helped that our situation's more than a bit awkward."

"…well, look on the bright side." Caules chimed in after a moment. "We already know each other, and how either of us think and do things. It'll help make things smoother and work easier in the future."

"Or when patching things up when inevitable disagreements and misunderstanding come up." Sakura said. "Can't get away from your family, after all."

"Too true…" Caules said with a laugh, Sakura joining in soon after.

Arranging the rest of their clothes was done in relative silence, and then both Sakura and Caules were unpacking their other things. Sakura neatly arranged the books and other reading materials they'd brought with them at a side table in their bedroom, while writing materials were kept at a drawer under the coffee table in the suite's living room.

Meanwhile, Caules took their cosmetics and stored them inside the bathroom, along with the First Aid Kit he made sure to have with him whenever he took an extended trip abroad. His mystic codes though he kept under the bed, in a drawer at the table next to his side of his bed, and he even hid a few under the cushions of the living room couch as well.

"This castle might be under our family's control, but it's best to be careful." He said to Sakura's curious look. "You never know what might happen, or if Einzbern didn't leave some surprises behind in case someone decided to loot their castle after they collectively bought the farm."

"…American slang, really?"

Caules just shrugged. "Point, I guess." Sakura conceded.

"Didn't you bring any mystic codes of your own?" Caules asked.

Sakura responded by reaching into Imaginary Numbers Space, and pulling out her saber. Then reaching in again, she pulled out a jewel box, which she opened to reveal a ring with a built-in, super-compact ether gun. Only good for a single shot, but aimed right and fired quickly, enough to blow an enemy magus' head to bits.

"Huh…must be handy being able to use Imaginary Numbers Space…" Caules murmured, before taking off a lampshade and trying to hide a mystic code next to the lamp. Struggling with it for a few minutes, he eventually gave up with a grumble.

Sakura just watched him with an expression of fond amusement, and letting out a giggle as he gave up. "Not funny, Sakura." He said, and only causing her to laugh some more. After a moment though, he started laughing as well, at how absurd what he'd just been doing had been.

Still, if Einzbern did leave unpleasant surprises for interlopers in their castle following their suicides, these preparations of theirs might not be worth much. Or they could be the difference between life and death…

Sakura shook her head and began to walk off. "I'm sure they said the suite's pantry was fully stocked." She said over a shoulder. "How about some tea? And warmed biscuits, if there's any?"

"Please and thank you." Caules said, before sighing and setting down his mystic code on the coffee table. And then taking his laptop and power bank, walked over to one of the suite's balconies.

Looking out over the expanse of the Black Forest, Caules took a deep and refreshing breath of the clean and crisp country air, very different from the polluted atmosphere of urban locales like London. It reminded him of the Romanian countryside he grew up in, whether it was in the Forvedge estate, or the castle and grounds of Trifas.

"_Just like home…?_" he silently asked himself, thinking about Sakura's words earlier, when they arrived at the castle. Smiling, Caules sat down at the balcony table and setup his laptop. "_Guess I can't disagree with her there._"

* * *

A/N

_Meister_, German for 'master', and a sign of respect from Sakura to Gordes. As he implied in a previous chapter, he was her teacher in magecraft (much like Kirei was for Rin), and as mentioned in this chapter, he was the one who gave her the rhenium-bladed saber she uses.


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 10

Jumo-X999 engines roared as they pushed the _Ceahlău Massif_ through the air, one of several airships designed, built, and operated by the Yggdmillennia lineage of magi. Rivaling the size of the old _Hindenburg _Class Airships once possessed by the Third Reich, the _Carpatin _Class incorporated numerous improvements and innovations to prevent a repeat of the disaster which had ended the Golden Age of the Airship, and losing such massive investments in time, money, and resources.

First and most important of course, was the replacement of the hydrogen which kept the airships aloft with helium. Unlike hydrogen, helium was nonflammable, while retaining the necessary lighter than air property for use in lifting the airship into the skies.

Another was the replacement of the materials used to make the airship itself. Whether it was the bags carrying the helium, the airship's skeleton, the outer skin, the cabins above and below, and the internal superstructure…aluminum and steel which could corrode and produce inflammable oxides were replaced with nonflammable and even _lighter _titanium alloy and ceramic composite. Low-static and nonflammable synthetic fibers replaced natural ones, and a complex network of interlocking buffers, grounding rods, and capacitors were incorporated into the airship's design to safely channel and neutralize static and even external electrical discharges such as lightning.

The latest refits even allowed for channeled static and electricity to be added to an airship's battery reserves.

Another improvement were the engines themselves, secretly designed and built by shell companies making use of stolen plans and even parts from Tupolev in the former Soviet Union. Taking the supersonic NK-12 turboprop engine, it was completely redesigned, the rotation of the propellers reduced to subsonic speeds to cut down on noise and to increase engine life, while the engine was rebuilt to be more fuel-efficient, more reliable, more powerful, and even safer to use. A shroud was also added to further reduce the noise produced by the propellers when in operation.

Mystic codes built into the airships rendered them invisible to eyes both natural and artificial, with further redundancy added by a non-reflective and heat-absorbent coating on the outer surfaces. The latter necessitated the incorporation of a cooling system, but the added weight was offset by the lighter materials used in the airships' construction and the new engines' greater power.

For all that, internal luxuries were not only preserved, but even improved. Whether it was for the passengers or crew, amenities were on par with the latest standards set by international airliners.

That is not to say that there were no drawbacks in their operation, though.

For one thing, they were expensive to build and operate, meaning Yggdmillennia could only operate a small flotilla of five airships.

For another thing, despite the incorporation of stealth into their design, the airships were still awkward and visible things.

Both drawbacks ensured they only carried Yggdmillennia VIPs, only to relatively-secluded locations, and on the most important tasks. Otherwise, Yggdmillennia's scions and agents made use of 'normal' means of transportation.

Indeed, there were those who questioned their continued operation as an unnecessary luxury. Darnic however, had insisted on at least three airships being ready to operate at any given time, with two alternatives for when any of the three were unusable. To reduce wear and tear, and to prevent atrophy through disuse, those on active status and on standby were rotated on shifts.

The _Ceahlău Massif _was one of three airships currently on Yggdmillennia's active roster, and was now being used to carry Sakura, Caules, and their advance force of homunculi to Japan. Dispatched from Trifas, the _Ceahlău Massif _had picked them up at Einzbern, and then ascending to its cruising altitude of over 250 meters, proceeded on a northward course at the cruising speed of an estimated 160 kilometers per hour.

Following a polar route at that speed, the _Ceahlău Massif _would bring them to their destination in a matter of days.

Currently, the _Ceahlău Massif _was flying over the Arctic, its passengers looking down through bulletproof glass at a pristine icescape stretching out as far as the eye could see. It was an awe-inspiring sight, a majestic vista of natural beauty and grandeur as it was, capable of sparking the imagination of artists and poets to record their visions and imaginings for posterity in works of the eye and the written and spoken word alike.

But those who weren't artists would eventually grow used to such a sight, and realize that ultimately, said icescape was just a massive expanse of nothing. Just ice and snow and cold air, and with that in mind go looking for other, more interesting things.

One of those was Sakura, who found herself losing interest in the Arctic landscape after only half a day flying over the region.

In contrast, Caules turned out to have an artistic side to himself, and bringing out canvas and ink, painted his impressions of the icescape below and the skies all around in a series of watercolors. While having no interest in art herself, Sakura did have interest in her cousin, and so kept him company even as he painted away their surroundings.

"Another one, Caules?" Sakura asked as she poured tea for them both. "That's your ninth painting yet."

"Inspiration isn't such a limited thing, from the feel of things." Caules flippantly replied. He'd barely begun preparing ink before Sakura grabbed him by an arm and pulled him away. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"We've already skipped lunch." Sakura sternly said, and shoving Caules into a nearby seat. "And it's almost sunset too. I think snacks and tea are in order, don't you?"

"I don't…"

Caules' stomach chose that moment to betray him, rumbling in hunger and causing Sakura to cross her arms and look at him with a raised eyebrow. Throwing up his hands in surrender, Caules took a sip of his tea while Sakura pulled the lid off a plate on the table. Then taking a table knife, sliced the two club sandwiches thereon into halves, before sprinkling dressing over the green salad next to it.

"…I think I'll have a sandwich." Caules remarked, and gingerly lifting one of the halves off the serving plate onto his plate.

"Help yourself." Sakura said, tossing the salad before using the tongs to serve herself some greens. And then sitting down herself, took a drink of her tea before digging into her meal. "We should be in Japan by the day after tomorrow, assuming the weather holds."

"That's good." Caules said with a nod, and briefly eyeing Sakura's left arm. "Grandfather wasn't too happy about the delay already."

"It couldn't be helped." Sakura said with a shrug. "But that also means we'll have to double time when we get there. All the while avoiding mistakes, of course."

Caules nodded in agreement. They ate in silence for the next few minutes, broken only by the tinkling of silver and china. Finishing his sandwich and then serving himself some greens, Caules glanced out the windows, and took several moments to appreciate a new perspective on the setting Sun seemingly setting the sky on fire, providing a magnificent contrast to the pure white below.

"_…well,_" he thought to himself while taking another drink of his tea. "_…I guess I was getting hungry…and if nothing else, this new look is something I'm going to have to paint before dinner…_"

With that thought in mind, Caules returned to his meal with even greater enthusiasm.

* * *

It was two days later that the _Ceahlău Massif _arrived at Fuyuki. Slowing as it entered the airspace above the city, familiars were sent ahead to scout out the selected landing site, and to deliver the appropriate codes to the location's bounded fields. The latter would simultaneously secure the landing site, the planned staging area for further operations, and set the stage for complete Yggdmillennia control of the location.

That location: Outpost Einzbern, inside a forest on the outskirts of the city.

As noon gave way to the afternoon, the _Ceahlău Massif _descended to less than a hundred meters above the ground, allowing homunculi to rappel down to the surface. Trees were chopped down, the ground cleared, equipment and prefabricated structures setup to provide a dock for the _Ceahlău Massif_, and as the Sun sank beneath the horizon and the first stars of night began to shine in the sky, the _Ceahlău Massif _made landfall.

"…it's good to be back." Sakura remarked as she stepped off the ramp onto the ground.

Caules gave a snort at that. "Do you really mean that?" he asked.

"No."

"That's what I thought."

The two Yggdmillennia magi shared a smirk at that, before halting and turning to face an approaching group of homunculi. The squad leader gave a salute, which both Caules and Sakura returned. "My lord…my lady…" the man began. "Our guard platoons have reached the edge of the territory, and confirmed all bounded fields' functionality. Furthermore, the special support team has affirmed our control of all bounded fields, and reset the security and access protocols. While we are still busy scouring the mansion of potential fail-safes and security measures, we now have effectively-complete control of this territory."

Sakura and Caules exchanged looks. "Very good, sergeant." Sakura said. "Continue with your operations, and secure the area."

"Yes, my lady."

"What is the status of the Einzbern mansion, anyway?" Caules said. "The report said that it had been damaged during the Heaven's Feel ritual, but not how badly."

"Yes, my lord." The homunculus sergeant said with a nod. "The foyer had been all but completely destroyed. Not just the ceiling, but the roof as well has caved in. The windows and doors are gone, and from what our engineers can see, there is extensive evidence of fire and blast damage."

"…we're going to have to check if it's affected the rest of the building's structural integrity," Caules mused aloud. "In addition to repairing the damage."

"That is also the recommendation of our engineers, my lord." The sergeant said.

Caules nodded and then turned to Sakura. "Perhaps it's better if we stay aboard the _Ceahlău Massif _until we have complete control," he said. "And we have assurances that the mansion isn't going to cave in on top of us from battle damage."

"A prudent call…" Sakura remarked, before briefly closing her eyes and nodding. "But a good one. Very well…let's do as you suggest."

Caules smiled and nodded, while Sakura turned back to the sergeant. "That said," she began. "Should our engineers confirm a significant risk of structural collapse, we will need to relocate all valuable resources inside the mansion: the materials in the library, the equipment and stores in the alchemy lab and related facilities, the contents of the armory and repositories, and similarly-important sites within."

"It will be done, my lady." The sergeant said with a salute.

Sakura nodded and then dismissed him with a gesture. The sergeant smartly turned and left, accompanied by his squad. "…want to go back inside?" Caules asked.

"Tempting…" Sakura admitted. "But let's check in with the special support team first."

"Good idea," Caules agreed with a nod. "Lead the way."

* * *

"…do you want to see your mother?"

Sakura and Caules had just finished supper, and were now lingering over the table with coffee and pie. The lamps burned low, keeping the dining room in a soothing half-light, the ambiance added to by the strains of some jazz album from the Roaring Twenties softly and languidly echoing through the air.

"…I'm not sure I want to." Sakura admitted, her eyes slightly-unfocused, as though reminiscing of times past, and old regrets. "But I will…just not now…not now…it's too dangerous…"

"…Matou is only a short distance from Tohsaka…" Caules said softly.

"…yes." Sakura said softly before her eyes focused, her voice and expression alike turning hard. Velvet-gloved hands clenched into fists. "Taking hostages is an old method to force compliance and submission, but there's a reason why it's still in use despite being so old: it works."

"…that would certainly be a problem." Caules said after a moment.

"…if it comes to that though," Sakura said while looking away, casting her face into shadow. "I'll do my duty, no matter what. But in the aftermath, I'll place a price on the head of that worm so high he'll never be able to come near a civilized place without the closest magi, spell-casters, witches and warlocks, freelancers, lowlifes, criminals, thugs, and gangsters dropping whatever it is they're doing to go headhunting."

"…not really sure if the latter of those could do anything against a Dead Apostle…" Caules ventured.

"The former can."

"True…"

Silence fell, broken by the tinkling of silver and china as Caules sliced at his serving of pie with a fork, and brought it to his mouth. Sakura took a drink of her coffee, and as she replaced it on its saucer, Caules put down his fork.

"…you still care for her." He said. It wasn't a question.

"…I suppose some part of me does." Sakura admitted after a moment. Sitting back, she looked away, resting her chin on a hand braced by an elbow against her chair's armrest. "Like I told my sister, our father was a proud and domineering man. Mother probably couldn't have done anything, much less have a say in things. To father, she was probably just someone to look after his house, and pop out babies for him."

Sakura's free hand curled into a fist, while her face twisted in contempt. "…despicable man…" she eventually spat.

Caules was silent for a few moments, and then he gave a smile. "Well," he began. "That won't happen to us."

Sakura smirked at him. "You are many things, Caules." She said. "But someone who looks down on women isn't one of them."

"Misogynist, I believe the word is." Caules said followed by a drink of his coffee. "And I know better. My mother would slap me silly if I ever sank to that low, not that I ever would. There are plenty of examples around me of women being able to stand on their own two feet."

"That there are." Sakura agreed, and righting herself, turned back to her dessert.

* * *

Work proceeded night and day in the Einzbern Forest outside of Fuyuki. Directed by homunculi, automatons and familiars felled trees and cleared the ground, while setting up more equipment and facilities to allow for more airships to land and dock.

Others were hard at work in the Einzbern mansion. Once the engineers had confirmed the rest of the structure was in no danger of collapsing, work began to repair the damage left behind by the Fifth Holy Grail War. Under Caules' leadership, other homunculi cataloged and swept the library and other critical areas. While control of Einzbern Castle in Germany might seem to have made this outpost of theirs redundant, anything of value was just that: something of value.

And there was no reason to squander any of it.

Rooms and suites were prepared for Darnic's arrival, as well as for those scions accompanying him. Automatons and familiars were made ready for the next stage of the plan, but deployment was delayed due to the unexpected discovery on an evil spirit haunting the surrounding forest.

Sakura personally took on the role of dealing with that complication. Proceeding alone into the depths of the forest, she used a mystic code commonly used by spiritualists to find the approximate location of unquiet souls, lingering metaphysical echoes, and wandering spirits, to track down her quarry.

She was assisted in that by her other bound spirits, which flew over the canopy, using the principle of 'like draws to like' to find the general location of the target. After spending an hour with her bound spirits flying around with no results, Sakura found the spirit's trail in an area to the north of the forest, and proceeded there.

Taking the form of a compass which didn't point north, Sakura followed her mystic code's lead, until after over an hour of seemingly going around in circles, the mystic code's needle went haywire, wildly spinning around the face. Sakura smiled, and put the mystic code into her pocket.

Taking a deep breath, she cast wary glances around her, taking in the silent ranks of trees crowding all around, and the thick undergrowth covering the ground as far as the eye could see, dry leaves and wood crunching underfoot with every step. A light breeze picked up, cold and biting, blowing between tree trunks and stirring up dust and debris from the ground.

Sakura took a few steps forward, and looking around at the feeling at the back of her head that she always felt in the presence of a spirit nearby, pulled out her mystic code. The needle kept on spinning, and then abruptly, stopped as the front of the mystic code broke in a spider's web of cracks.

Killing intent spiked through the air, striking in from the left. Sakura scoffed, and stepping back a foot, caught and grappled with something invisible, causing her feet to skid back against the dirt. Cold…deep and biting cold lanced through the thick cloth of her uniform and into her flesh down to the bones, as though of claws carving into her body.

And then roaring, Sakura turned and heaved, seeming to lift something overhead before throwing it away. Gesturing, she opened up Imaginary Numbers Space, from which flew a trio of Stymphalians. Screeching as they flew one after another past the trees, they scattered before circling around and striking down with pinions extended and talons held wide.

A spectral howl echoed through the woods, far too loud and high-pitched to be produced by the Human throat, as bronze talons tore through immaterial form. Despite herself, Sakura felt the hair on the back of her neck rise at the sound, all while she leapt from one tree to another, jumping from branches or kicking off trunks. "_Let's try it out._" She thought, and powered up her crest.

Excruciating pain as though her arm was being torn to pieces erupted, but unfazed, Sakura pointed her index finger before opening fire with Gandr. She missed, but she didn't need to hit.

She just needed to get her quarry focused on her, and not on the Stymphalians. And it worked.

Its attention turning to her, the spirit failed to notice the three Stymphalians surround it, and landing with wings spread wide, erected a containment field between them that enclosed a spherical area in front of them. Again, a spectral howl echoed through the woods, now filled with rage and denial, even as grasping, skeletal hands beat against an invisible surface from the inside of the field, seemingly fading into existence from out of nowhere.

"And that's checkmate." Sakura said, leaping down with a grin. "Now to finish: flow, into darkness!"

A mandala flashed into existence beneath the sphere, from which a smoke-like cloud of shadow drifted out and up. A shrouded form was silhouetted within the cloud, struggling and wrestling against an unseen adversary, before seemingly being funneled down with the smoke down into the mandala.

It screamed once, rage and denial replaced by hate and terror, and then again and again, each time fainter than the last, hate and terror turning into despair, until silence fell. The mandala vanished. The Stymphalians preened themselves, before returning back inside Imaginary Numbers Space. Sakura felt the spirit trapped therein as well, and nodded with satisfaction.

She'd dissect its abilities and properties later on, and then bind it, once she had the time. For now, she needed to get back, as there was still more work to be done.

Using her bound spirits still flying around to pinpoint her location and that of the Einzbern mansion at the heart of the territory, Sakura began the long walk back.

* * *

"You used your crest?" Caules asked.

"Yes," Sakura admitted from where she was sitting next to a table. "Though in hindsight it probably wasn't necessary. Still, it makes for my first successful use of the Tohsaka Magic Crest outside of controlled laboratory conditions."

"Congratulations…?" Caules hesitantly said, and Sakura smiled at him.

"Thanks." She said, and after a moment, Caules returned the smile and nodded. Then lifting her arm, Sakura unbuttoned her left cuff, before rolling up her uniform jacket's sleeve. Beneath, her forearm was encased with a mystic code of black, hardened cloth, bronze knobs arranged in rows of six on top and linked to each other with silver conduits that also formed six rings around the mystic code and the arm beneath.

A gauge was located at the base of the mystic code, near the inside of the elbow. Next to it were a trio of lights, one green, another yellow, and the last red. The green light was on.

"…how did it feel?" Caules asked.

Sakura's smile widened as she lowered her arm. "As usual, like my arm was getting cut to pieces." She said. "Though, I didn't get to use it long enough to start growing numb this time around."

Caules nodded. "Could be worse." He pointed out.

"So you've said before." Sakura agreed in all seriousness. Caules' older sister, Fiore was a textbook case of how the side-effects of a magic crest could take its toll on a person. While Fiore already had weak legs even before receiving her crest due to issues with her circuits in that part of her body, the crest exacerbated those issues, leaving her paralyzed below the waist.

And that was still a mild case by all accounts.

There were examples of magi whose bodies had slowly shut down in sequence following the failed implantation of a crest, or had developed tumors and other diseases, and worse. One case Sakura had heard in passing had a magus all but turning into a walking corpse due to his crest rotting him away while simultaneously keeping him alive.

Shaking her head out of such morbid thoughts, Sakura unrolled her sleeve, and flexed her fingers a few times before getting to her feet. "Anyway," she said. "Now that that complication has been dealt with, let's get back to the rest of the plan."

Caules nodded, and Sakura got to her feet before leaning on her arms at the table before them. Maps were spread out before them, one of which was a topographic map of the Einzbern Forest and the surrounding area. Colored pins had been inserted across the map by Caules, denoting points of interest such as seal locations for the bounded fields, along with notations made in grease pencil.

There were maps of various kinds of the city, the most important of which was a topographic map of the city and its suburbs. Brightly-colored ink traced out the ley lines running through the territory, while a circle drawn around Mount Enzo indicated the location of Yggdmillennia's prize.

Colored pins driven through key points denoted other areas of interest, such as Kotomine Church, the Tohsaka and Matou properties, and the Edelfelt properties. The last of those was off-limits, as tempting as it was to seize them and any valuables therein. There was simply nothing to gain from a confrontation with Edelfelt at this time or indeed, the near future.

Tohsaka though was of personal interest to Sakura, though its proximity to Matou necessitated Matou's neutralization before she could act on her interest. And her grandfather had a personal interest in Matou, even more so as all simulations predicted the first and the last of the Matou would actively obstruct their – Yggdmillennia's – goal in the city.

Plans had been drawn up and were ready to be implemented to handle that issue, though they required Darnic to arrive in the city first.

In the meantime, though…

"As per the predetermined plan," Sakura said. "We'll begin passive surveillance of all areas of interest, as well as of the zone of operations. We'll also begin passive scanning of the ley lines to collect relevant information as to how they function in conjunction with the Greater Grail. Once those preparations are made…"

"…we'll contact Trifas, and give the go ahead." Caules said with a nod. "And then we wait."

"Yes, we wait." Sakura agreed.

* * *

A/N

Nothing too important happens here, except for Yggdmillennia finally making its first moves in Fuyuki to claim the Greater Grail. With Rin neutralized, and Shirou in London, only Caren and Zouken stand in their way…not that Caren is likely to do anything. Considering her character, she'd probably just sit back and watch while making sarcastic and mocking remarks if anyone asks her opinion.

Assuming, of course, she notices anything happen at all.


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 11

_Mexico, not far from the American border_

A harsh wind blew across the desert, stirring the dry and dusty topsoil, and sending tumbleweed rolling across the flats stretching as far as the eye could see. The north-south road was a strip of black splitting the harsh land in two, passing through a rundown town less than an hour's drive south of the American border.

Buildings made from concrete or simple and unfinished hollow blocks cemented to each other were stained and worn by time and the desert. The older ones were cracked and pitted by the harsh heat of the region, and along more passed through streets or along the main road, were marked by graffiti of various kinds. Vehicles were rare, most of the townsfolk preferring to walk, though bicycles were a common sight among younger residents. Sleek, imported American ones were even something of a status symbol among them.

Generally-speaking though, the town had something of an air of despair and resignation around it, and of having seen better days. Too many townsfolk could be seen loitering around the streets and squares, too many buildings were condemned and boarded up, or otherwise needed more than superficial repairs, and far more homeless huddled in the shadowed alleys and shanties than there should be.

A man and a woman entered the outer area of a crumbling restaurant, the former wearing worn and nondescript clothes along with a pair of sunglasses, while the latter wore a simple yet expensive dress of rich violet. Their destination was a bench setup along the wall, on which a woman in a poncho was taking a nap while sitting down, her _sombrero _worn not just to shade her face, but to actually cover it.

The woman in the dress sat down at one of the tables, though the waiter on duty made no move to attend to her. Instead, he knowingly withdrew inside, while the woman's partner sat down next to the napping woman. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. A few minutes passed, and then…

"Hey," the man began. "Do they serve Bloody Maries here?"

"…only beer, I'm afraid." The napping woman replied.

"Shame…" the man said. "I've got a whole lot of tomato juice, you see."

"How much?" the woman asked.

"Three hundred thousand for fifty packs." The man replied.

"..._one hundred and fifty thousand_." The woman countered.

The man got to his feet. "I'm in a hurry." He dismissively said. "And I've got other customers."

Making to leave, he barely managed to take a step before a fair-skinned hand grabbed him firmly by the arm. "Show me." The woman said.

The man smirked triumphantly, and turning back to the woman, reached into his coat pocket. Then his expression turned into alarm, as what he was looking for wasn't there. "Looking for this?" Luvia asked, holding up a vial of red-colored elixir, and causing the man to spring back in alarm as she got to her feet. "Honestly, all this trouble just to ply a watered-down rip-off of the Elixir of Life as some new wonder narcotic."

"…what?" the renegade alchemist hissed.

"It's sad, really." Luvia said while tossing away her _sombrero _to expose her golden ringlets, before pulling off and neatly folding her poncho over an arm, similarly exposing the safari wear she was wearing beneath. "The Clock Tower's bounty on you is a paltry sum of twenty-five thousand American dollars…very sad indeed."

"If it's so sad, then why's the Edelfelt heiress gone to so much trouble for me?" the renegade alchemist spat. "Or did you run through your allowance for this month and you're that desperate for cold cash already?"

"Oh…it's even sadder, then. Your skill at coming up with insults is on par with your skill with alchemy: mediocre." Luvia remarked with a smirk.

"While your skill with theft is just as your family is reputed for." The renegade alchemist shot back.

"Touché." Luvia admitted while briefly closing her eyes…

…and then tossing the vial she was holding into the air, blew it apart with a single Finn shot. The renegade snarled in rage and leapt forward, throwing wild haymakers in Luvia's direction, but the blonde woman just danced back and around his blows, all the while smirking infuriatingly at him.

And then kicking twice at the renegade's side, Luvia followed up with a boot to the chin that had the renegade stumbling back, blood and spit erupting from his mouth where he'd bitten his tongue. Recovering, he threw another haymaker Luvia's way, and as she sprang back, grabbed a table and threw it at her as well.

Luvia just laughed mockingly as she caught it, and then some more when it broke after taking one of the man's fists. Then throwing her poncho in his face to obstruct his vision, Luvia followed up with a right hook that had the man reeling away as his nose was pulverized by the blow.

A left hook shattered his jaw next, followed by a cartwheel kick that floored the man. "And now to finish!" Luvia yelled, doing a leg drop that had the man screaming in pain as she cracked all of his ribs along with his breastbone. "Three…two…one, and he's out!"

Luvia then smirked at the cowering homunculus who'd been the renegade's aide…

…and then she was diving for cover, as a trio of cars drove up, and screeching to a halt, poured out cartel men armed with automatic weapons. They opened fire and pinned Luvia in place, while the renegade used some kind of spell to keep his body in one piece and run away, abandoning his aide to bleed to death where she'd been riddled with bullets.

"That son of a bitch!" Luvia spat as she sensed him running away, and the cartel men moving to flank her. "He made trouble with the cartels? God damn it!"

And then the gunfire abruptly ended, screams and shouts of agony filling the air as the cartel men crumpled, their weapons destroyed and arms and legs lacerated by gleaming blades which had seemingly rained down from the sky and punched through their bodies before burying themselves into the ground. "_What took you so long, Shero?_" Luvia telepathically demanded as she nonverbally wiped the cartel men's memory.

"_Sorry…_" the responding thought came heavy with exhaustion. "_But I had to…find a good…vantage point…sorry, Luvia…but I'm almost out of prana…good luck…_"

"_…stay safe until I get back._" Luvia responded while running for her car.

"_Got it._"

Jumping into her car's driver's seat, Luvia turned the key and caused the Lancia Stratos to come to come to life with a loud and powerful roar. Quickly placing it into gear, Luvia drove out of the alley she'd parked it in, towards and onto the main road, and following her familiars' lead, roared in pursuit towards the American border.

Roaring up the road at nearly a hundred kilometers per hour, Luvia strapped herself in before cursing as her familiars warned her that two cartel armored cars were also pursuing her quarry, and had now entered into gun range. "_We'll see about that._" She thought to herself, as she slipped on a safety visor, before opening her windows.

Then turning the valves on her nitro tanks, she popped open a special receptacle next to the wheel and slipped a jewel inside. Falling into a reaction chamber, the jewel flared bright and then discharged, providing half of what was needed to bring the Stratos' hybrid gasoline-prana engine to maximum power.

The other half came with Luvia flipping a safety on her wheel, and then pressing down with a thumb at the button beneath.

Prana and nitro flooded her engine, glowing lines flashing to life across the car's body before literal flames erupted from the exhaust. "OH YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Luvia yelled as her gauges redlined and her car accelerated to over three hundred kilometers per hour in a matter of seconds.

The G-Forces crushed her back against the seat, but that wasn't something reinforcement couldn't handle. Instead, an insane grin split the blonde Finn's face as she sped past the two cartel cars, the gunmen inside stunned at the redlining sports car with what seemed like actual Tron lines speeding past.

Then tossing jewels to either side as she sped past, Luvia blew up the cartel men, while chasing her quarry down. The renegade zigzagged in an effort to shake her off, and then Luvia was cursing again as she spotted the American border enter her reinforced sight.

And apparently, the Americans weren't too happy about explosions going up near their border.

Already, a steel barricade had been pulled across the crossing, while border guards were lining up shots. Slowing down to avoid losing any and all margin of error, Luvia stuck out an arm and opened fire with Finn shots to try and disable her quarry's car.

Glass shattered and metal tore under her onslaught, but the renegade just sped up, much to Luvia's shock and surprise. "_Is he crazy?_" she asked herself. "_No…it can't be…is he planning to run the border? That's insane! The Americans will…!_"

As if on cue, the American border guards opened fire, and cursing, Luvia swerved off the road and away. The renegade kept on going, bullets ripping through his car and body alike, before finally dashing themselves to pieces against the barricade.

Skidding to a halt on the flats to the side of the road, Luvia punched the dashboard angrily before turning her head in the direction of the American border. The Americans were making no move to go after her…

…which wasn't really a surprise, since she was still technically on Mexican soil. So long as she didn't make any hostile moves their way, they didn't really have any reason to go after her.

Snarling at her quarry technically getting away from her, Luvia put her car into gear again, and drove back towards the road, then to pick Shero up. "_Well,_" she thought to herself, while pulling out another vial of crimson elixir she'd lifted from the renegade's pocket earlier. "_It's not like I really needed to bring him in. Even watered-down, a replica of the legendary Elixir of Life does have value…especially when not in storage, it naturally crystallizes into jewel-like formations._"

Philosophically rationalizing her recent failure with that thought, Luvia allowed herself to relax while driving back to town.

* * *

_Fuyuki City, Japan_

Familiars and automatons winged the evening skies above the Einzbern Forest, patrolling for incoming threats while also putting themselves in position to quickly and readily respond. Similarly, the bounded fields surrounding the entire territory were on maximum battle readiness, forcibly turning away any normal Human who attempted to approach or burning away their minds should they press onward, while any magus able to resist such mental interference would automatically be targeted by active defensive measures. Platoons of homunculi patrolled the forest in force, supported by golems, automatons, bound spirits, and familiars.

In short, security was at the tightest.

But of course, for on this evening, the leader of the Thousand Realms was arriving: Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia.

Twin files of spotlights lined the approach to the Einzbern mansion, positioned facing ninety degrees upward and forming a series of pillars of light towards the former from the landing grounds. On the landing ground itself, two full phalanxes of homunculi stood at parade formation, one of each side of the _Carpatin_'s dock, while twin files of scions formed an honor guard before the expected resting place of the airship's ramp.

The _Ceahlău Massif _and another airship, the _Peleaga_, were meant to dock to either side, but for this moment, they hung in the air, flanking Darnic's flagship, the _Carpatin_, as she floated down to its resting place. Homunculi rushed to secure the airship in position, and once that was done, the landing ramp descended to the ground.

Caules and Sakura stood to attention at the head of the honor guard of scions (who had arrived earlier aboard the _Peleaga_), and remained standing as Darnic's personal bodyguard descended, and took a protective semicircle around the ramp. Then they both sank to a knee, moments before Darnic himself appeared at the top of the ramp.

Descending in silence, Darnic paused before them both as he stepped onto the ground. "Rise, grandchildren." He said with a benevolent gesture before resuming his pace forward. "Honor is done."

Sakura and Caules rose, falling into step side by side behind Darnic, Gordes immediately behind them followed by Fiore on her wheelchair. "As per the predetermined plan," Sakura began without preamble. "We have established and maintained surveillance of both areas and persons of interest. In particular, neither the Overseer nor Makiri Zolgen show any sign of having noticed our presence, nor have they made any hostile actions against us. The Greater Grail also appears to be where it is expected to be, and we may proceed as planned."

"You've done well, Sakura." Darnic said with a nod and a smile, though the latter quickly faded. "Too well, it seems. Has there been any setbacks?"

"…we have…noticed, indications that the ley lines have been sabotaged." Sakura uncertainly said. "We cannot be completely certain of the cause or when the act was done, without active investigation, but it does seem to be not so recent."

Darnic hummed darkly. "…investigate once we've dealt with Zolgen." He finally said. "Though, it is ultimately of no concern. So long as the Greater Grail itself is functional and is delivered into our hands, then victory will still be ours."

"Yes, grandfather."

Darnic smiled and gestured grandly. "Yes," he said. "Everything is proceeding just as planned."

* * *

Shirou sighed mournfully. "All that effort…wasted…" he said.

"I wouldn't say that." Luvia said while walking over to gently massage his shoulders. "We managed to stop Laurens from selling a magical elixir as a narcotic, and destroyed his whole stash in the process. We even managed to keep the cartels from getting their hands on any samples…to be sure, we can't claim the bounty since Laurens died as opposed to getting brought in, but even despite that, we managed to complete our mission."

"…I'd still prefer it if he didn't get killed in the process." Shirou remarked.

"Hmm…you didn't kill those cartel goons either…" Luvia mused aloud. "Merciful, aren't we?"

"Is that so wrong?" Shirou snapped.

"Not really…" Luvia said with a shrug, though she then narrowed her eyes. "Though, I wonder if you remember the first lesson any magus ever learns: we walk with death."

"I know that." Shirou snapped again. "And believe me: if I have to kill, I will. And you know it. Me and Tohsaka have told you all about the Holy Grail War, after all."

"Yes…" Luvia agreed with a nod. "Sorry if I caused offense…that said, while being merciful isn't necessarily a bad thing…it can be problematic if taken too far…"

"…I never took you for being the type to agree with the notion that mercy is for the weak, Luvia." Shirou challenged.

Luvia responded with a light shove to the back of Shirou's head. "Don't put words in my mouth." She said. "I never said that. Though since you bring it up…then yes, I agree. Mercy is for the weak, therefore only the strong can afford to be merciful."

Shirou gaped at Luvia turning his challenge back at him, and smiling at him, Luvia placed a finger against his lips to preempt anything he might say. "Like I said," she began. "I'm sorry if I caused you offense, because I never meant to. And you should have let me finish. Being merciful is problematic in the sense that mercy may not be so merciful depending on the circumstances."

"…what do you mean?" Shirou asked.

"Augustin Laurens was a sealing designate." Luvia said. "Seeing as he's already cut and run once before, if we did bring him back, he'd have been all but literally collared before being dragged off to some secure laboratory, never to be seen again."

"You don't mean…"

"He _probably _wouldn't have become a lab rat," Luvia began as Shirou trailed off. "But he might as well have been a slave. Assuming, of course, he'd have remained in Clock Tower custody. Given he was an alchemist, and one sufficiently accomplished in the Great Work to be able to replicate the Elixir of Life – watered-down to be sure, but he replicated it regardless – he'd probably have been taken into the depths of Atlas in Egypt. And that place is beyond secure. Anyone who gets taken into custody there will _never _get out. And God knows what they might do to him."

"…is Atlas really that bad?" Shirou worriedly asked.

"They're _alchemists_." Luvia said with a shrug, as though that explained anything. "No, more than that, they're _Atlas _alchemists. To those people, _everything _is a matter of calculation and mathematical certainty to one degree or another. It's said that we magi can be quite inhuman…but the alchemists of Atlas even more so."

"I…see…"

Shirou turned away and lowered his head in thought, and patting him on a shoulder, Luvia went off to attend to other matters. Not without some parting words, though.

"Look on the bright side, Shero." She cheerfully said. "You'll have quite the story to tell Tohsaka when we get back."

"…true enough, Luvia."

* * *

At the Einzbern mansion on the outskirts of Fuyuki, Yggdmillennia's scions were holding a subdued celebration. Scions waltzed in the atrium to the sound of music played by a quartet of musicians, the tinkling of water on marble from the fountain in the middle of the atrium providing a gentle accompaniment to their music. Lamps and candles kept the atrium in a gentle half-light, in contrast to the brightly-lit interior of the mansion.

Other scions were gathered to the sidelines, watching the dancers or chatting to each other, while others partook of the wine and finger food laid out on a long table set to one side. Others dined at semi-private tables set up on overlooking rooms above the atrium, or those which looked out to the atrium from the ground floor.

Among those watching the dancers was Fiore, attended to by a pair of homunculi. The sound of approaching footsteps drew her attention from her little brother dancing with his fiancée, and towards the approaching man. Fiore smiled.

"Hello, Uncle Gordes." She said.

"Hello, little Fiore." Gordes said with a smile, coming to a halt with his hands clasped behind him. "If it's not too much to ask, I was wondering if you weren't enjoying yourself tonight?"

Fiore shook her head. "It's not that I'm not enjoying myself," she said softly, and turning back to where Caules and Sakura were dancing in the distance. "As much as I was thinking on how nice it would be if I could join the dancers in front of me."

"Ah…I see."

Fiore laughed and shook her head again. "No," she said. "It's alright. Just as there are some things which only I can do, there are also some things which I can never do. It comes with being Human, after all."

Gordes nodded with a smile. "Most wise, little one." He said.

Fiore's smile turned ever so crafty. "Didn't the title 'magus' derive from a Persian title which can be translated as 'wise man'?" she asked. "If so, then it's only expected, isn't it?"

Gordes laughed loudly and gave a small round of applause. "Indeed, little one, indeed." He said with a nod.

Fiore gave a small bow, and turned back to the dancers. She continued to watch for several more minutes, until this round of dancing came to an end. Polite applause went up from the audience, Fiore and Gordes included. And as the musicians started on another score, Fiore turned back to her uncle.

"Sorry, uncle." She said. "But I think I'll go and have a look at what food and drink are available."

Gordes nodded. "But of course, little one." He said. "Go, and enjoy yourself. Tonight's celebration is meant to be an advance one for our triumph tomorrow, after all."

"Then," Fiore said with a wide smile. "I take my leave."

Gordes nodded, and looked on as Fiore was taken away by one of her attendants. Then taking a drink from a tray carried by a passing server, Gordes took a sip of white wine while continuing to watch the dancers in the atrium.

* * *

In a sitting room in an upper floor looking out over the expanse of the Einzbern Forest, Darnic looked out from the balcony, holding a half-full glass of white wine in one hand. Chamber music echoed through the air, coming from a record player on a table in one corner.

A series of knocks drew Darnic's attention, before one of his guards spoke through the door. "Lady Celenike is here to see you, my lord." The homunculus said, his voice muffled by the thick wood.

"Send her in." Darnic ordered.

"Yes, my lord."

The door opened, allowing Celenike Isecolle Yggdmillennia to enter. As usual, the platinum-blonde witch was wearing a uniform half a size too small for her, the better – in her opinion – to show off her figure. A shame that no matter how physically-attractive she was, her…talents, made for a repulsive skillset in the eyes of most. The same went for how those same talents and how they could be brought to their full potential had…distorted, Celenike's mind and personality.

Darnic was not like most people, though.

Celenike was one of his best, and most powerful scions. And together with his own contribution come tomorrow, the best suited to put down the monster that was Makiri Zolgen.

"I apologize for disturbing your solitude, Lord Darnic." Celenike said with a courtly bow. "However, I thought it courteous to attend to you, no matter how briefly, before departing to perform my task."

"…it is of no concern." Darnic said while walking closer. "On the contrary, this is all for the better. A chance, as it were, to provide you with…final, warning on what you are about to face."

"With all due respect, my lord," Celenike said. "I have made certain to study every record and reference we have on that Dead Apostle. Both the public and restricted ones…whether the ones we keep…or the ones the Association keeps…"

Celenike trailed off as Darnic abruptly appeared in front of her. Somehow, the leader of the Thousand Realms had traversed the few feet between them in an instant, as though the distance had never existed in the first place. A gloved hand gently caressed her neck, and then went up to her cheek.

"Records and references are one thing." Darnic said in a tone that brooked no disagreement. "Facing that…_thing_, and knowing it for what it truly is…is something else. I am probably the only one to ever face it in battle and in defeat, escape with my life and health intact. What Tohsaka and Eiznbern were thinking making deals with that _thing_…"

Darnic trailed off while running a hand through Celenike's hair, and then returning to the coffee table, refilled his glass and poured a second one. Picking it up, he approached Celenike and offered it to her. "If you are to face that _thing_," he warned. "You must do so with both eyes open. You must do so knowing there is very much a chance that there will no chance of getting back. You must be prepared to go all the way. Now, I ask: are you prepared to do all that, Celenike?"

The silence hung heavy and pregnant with anticipation, but even as Darnic's eyes narrowed, Celenike nodded. "Yes," she said, and taking the offered wineglass. "I am prepared to do all that, and more, Lord Darnic."

"…good," Darnic said with a nod and a satisfied note in his voice, even as Celenike took a drink from her glass. "Very good…I'll leave your assigned task to you then, Celenike Isecolle Yggdmillennia."

As Darnic walked away, heading back to the balcony and his solitude, Celenike finished her glass, and licking her lips in anticipation, smiled.

_It is time…time to play the first movement of the requiem of the Zolgen lineage of magi._

_And it will be glorious._

* * *

A/N

You want more Shirou? I suppose I can work him in…but in return, I want more Luvia as well. And she has to get a classy sports car too. But of course: she is_ Luviagelita Edelfelt_, after all.

Meanwhile, the Emperor…I mean, _Darnic_ arrives in Fuyuki. Or should I say he _returns _to Fuyuki, after over sixty years, to claim what he originally came to get all those decades ago. And this time, he knows exactly how to deal with something like Zouken.


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 12

The Sun shone bright and hot in the clear blue sky, unobstructed by any cloud. It shone down from the zenith, the leader of the Thousand Realms having chosen to strike at noon, when the resonance between the Dead Apostles and the original source of their power, the Moon, was at its weakest.

It would have been better too, to strike during the Summer Solstice, again further weakening the lunar resonance that could increase a Dead Apostle's power by ever so many degrees, but time was short. Needs must.

"Sakura," Darnic said, standing before the iron gates of the Matou property. Behind him and to the right his granddaughter stood, one hand grasping her saber's hilt. To his left were a trio of homunculi, one of whom held a wooden case in her hands, while the other two held a bound and gagged boy between them. Violet eyes were wild with terror, and days if not weeks of confinement had left his matching hair wild and unkempt. "Don't get distracted."

"Understood, grandfather." Sakura said, and drew her saber with a steely hiss.

Darnic nodded, and raising a hand, gestured for the two homunculi to bring their captive closer. Darnic regarded the boy with a cold and appraising eye, disregarding his fear and terror with callous contempt. It had taken years of research and investigation, going through records kept not just in the Clock Tower and other places of magical learning but also in the mundane world, such as those of the titan of Eurasia, going back over the centuries to the days of the Tsars, until finally, he found them.

Today, they called themselves Matou. Ironically, that name was originally _not _that of their family, and indeed, was a Japanized form of the personal name Makiri…Makiri Zolgen. Founder and 'patriarch' of the Zolgen lineage of magi…or rather, parasite…slave master…_vampire_…_DEAD APOSTLE_…

…Darnic did not know how long the monster had existed, only that it had enslaved the family which it had founded when it was still a man for centuries, and that it and they had once lived in the Russian Empire. Kiev, to precise, in what is now the Ukraine. In that time, marriages had been made with other families, whether fellow magi or nobles or both, for political and financial reasons, but with the construction of the Greater Grail, the monster had taken its slaves to Fuyuki, changed their name, and resettled on this land, the better to be closer to that which would open the path that led to the gates of the Root.

Wise fool…

…in so doing, it had disconnected itself from its foundation, and weakened itself and its slaves, causing their magical potential to falter and rot with every passing generation. The last of those slaves with the ability to use magic, had in fact perished in the previous two Holy Grail Wars.

Byakuya Matou, by the hands of Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Shinji Matou, by the hands of Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya.

Irony…by the hands of their own allies…those they had joined hands with over a century ago…the line of magic-wielding slaves was ended…

…and today…there would be more irony…

…for once Darnic had tracked down the Zolgen as they had been centuries ago, he could then track down those they had intermarried with long ago. On finding them, eyes were set to find one in which the Zolgen blood ran true, and from there agents brought one such individual before Darnic, with which to fulfil his glorious purpose.

Darnic gestured again, and the female homunculus stepped forward. Darnic opened the case she was holding, and exposed the weapon within.

It was a crude thing, the blade a jagged and rough-cut thing of obsidian, while the handle was rope-bound wood, the guard carved to resemble a grinning face, its skin made from a mosaic of jade chips with shell for teeth and semi-precious stones for eyes. It was a primitive thing, made by a primitive culture for a primitive purpose…

…but it would serve Darnic well.

Once…centuries ago…this knife had been wielded by generations of Aztec priests. It had carved out hundreds of thousands…if not _millions _of hearts, beating and dripping, from the chests of Human sacrifices. Tens of thousands of hearts per year for centuries…offered up with fire and incense for the cruel and bloodthirsty gods of Central America.

It did not matter who the sacrifice was. Nobles…priests…warriors…commoners…slaves…friends and comrades…enemies taken on the battlefield…willing or unwilling…none of it mattered.

It cut into their chests regardless, and allowed its wielder to reach in, and remove their hearts for the glory of their gods. It had only been stopped by the coming of others even crueler and thirstier for blood than the Aztecs' own gods, namely Hernan Cortez and his conquistadors.

After all, for all the blood that spilled down the steps of their pyramids, the skulls which filled their racks, the Aztecs had endured in their time.

But when the Spaniards came…

…entire peoples…tribes…cultures…ceased to be.

And with their ceasing to be, the knife and others like it had lost their purpose. They faded into legend, tales of cruel and bloody sacrifice in a distant and darker age.

But now…

…Darnic would harness the power of that legend.

Just as the priests which had wielded the knife in centuries past had carved open the chests of sacrifices to remove their hearts, so too would Darnic symbolically carve open the chest of the Zolgen/Matou lineage and remove its heart. Just as the priests had once offered the hearts of their sacrifices to the higher calling of their gods, so too would Darnic offer Zolgen/Matou's heart to the higher calling of his glorious purpose.

While the homunculi restrained the boy's struggles, Darnic used a hand to approximate the location of the boy's heart, while raising the knife with his other. And then bringing it down, carved into the boy's chest.

Muffled screams and cries of pain filled the air, hot crimson spilling out and dripping to the ground as Darnic cut the boy's chest open. And then reaching in, he plucked out the spasmodically-beating heart, chanting an aria that was nothing more than a rewritten prayer to Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec God of War. Rewritten, for in this Age of Man much less in a land where the Aztecs had never stepped foot on such prayers would have no meaning, and instead meant to simultaneously harness the concepts soaked into the sacrificial knife by millions of sacrifices centuries ago, and to channel those same concepts along lines defined by this most recent sacrifice's blood.

As he approached the Matou property's gates, Sakura walked past behind him, and in one swift stroke, parted the dying boy's head from his body.

At the same time, Darnic's aria reached its conclusion, the sacrificial knife in his hand stabbing forward into empty air. Instantly, corposant erupted around the heart in Darnic's offhand, dripping down and trailing after the trails of blood in its wake, over Darnic's arm and the ground below, towards and engulfing the boy's corpse. The flames burned cold, but hungry, consuming _something _if not the physical.

And from the point where Darnic's knife had seemingly stabbed into nothing, a spider's web of corposant spread out at the speed of thought. It formed a dome around the Matou property, and reached inward with jagged tendrils that wound over and around the mansion at its heart. Twisted vines of light spun down from the dome and over the trees into the property, and spread another spider's web over and into the ground.

Other tendrils poked through the walls and windows of the mansion and into its interior, all marking the skeleton of magical power which reached out from the heart of the Zolgen/Makiri lineage of magi, and wrapped protectively/covetously/jealously/parasitically around its abode. And had the property and mansion been in Central America, it would have been shattered in an instant.

But this was not Central America.

This was Japan.

An entire ocean…no, more than that…an entire _hemisphere _separated this land from Central America.

The Aztecs never stepped foot here, much less reigned here.

And so the Zolgen/Makiri mysteries fought back, the tendrils and vines twitching and writhing in a grotesque parody of life, seeking to blunt and absorb the force of impact, and then elastically bouncing back, repel it. It would take time, as the concepts embodied in the knife by the life, death, and blood of millions still held great weight regardless of distance from where they were embodied, and indeed, even in this distant land, the tales and history of the Aztecs still held significant weight, such was their fame and glory.

Or rather…their _infamy_, at the premium they placed on the practice of Human sacrifice and ritual self-mutilation.

But even so, the Zolgen/Makiri mysteries would absorb and in time, repel this onslaught.

Or it should.

Because conceptually-speaking, Darnic did not stab at random. It might appear so, but in reality, he stabbed at a _crack_. A weak point, through which the concepts and principles making up the Zolgen/Makiri mysteries could be pried open and then taken apart.

Why else would he go to such lengths as to find and sacrifice one of Makiri Zolgen's descendants, after all?

By adding his blood to the knife, power was given to it over his bloodline.

Not much…

…but it was enough.

To those with the ears to hear, it was as though thousands upon thousands of mirrors were simultaneously shattered. And then actual sound erupted moments later, as every window in the Matou mansion shattered, and unknown to the Yggdmillennia magi at this time, every other breakable object inside the mansion was also broken.

"…irony…" Darnic breathed as he heaved, lowering the knife in his hand, the obsidian smoking with its edges faintly glowing, ash crumbling from his other hand at the same time. "…by its blood…it will be undone…"

Then drawing himself up, he raised a hand, and blew open the gates into the property. And then unchallenged, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia stepped into the Matou property.

* * *

Silence…silence filled the air as the Yggdmillennia magi and their homunculi marched across the grounds towards the Matou mansion. Only the sound of boots broke the silence, neither birds nor the wind joining in on disturbing the…unnatural, silence of the grounds.

Sakura and the homunculi tightened their hold on their weapons, sensing a…hostile, tint to the air around them. It wasn't something evident to the five senses, or even the supernatural senses of magi, but something only those acquainted to the battlefield in more than a passing way could or would notice.

_Something_ was watching them.

_Something _saw them as unwelcome, intruding and undesirable.

_Something _wanted them gone, preferably for good.

They were halfway across the grounds when it struck.

One moment, there was nothing, and in the next moment the ground and the air just seemed to erupt with vast swarms of insects, so many as to be beyond count, blotting out the sky and the Sun's light. The buzzing of their wings was a loud roar, filled with malice and hostility, descending into infrasonic frequencies that instinctively caused a primal, animal fear in the Human psyche.

They closed in…

…and with a flashing of metal, mush exploded outwards splattering in great sheets and puddles across the ground. Darnic blinked, and then turned to regard his granddaughter.

Sakura was holding her saber in a one-handed low guard, blue lines glowing over exposed flesh. Her left arm all but imperceptibly shuddered from the strain of using her crest, but she had succeeded. Darnic smiled.

"Well done, Sakura." He said.

"…there's more." She said, and once again, the swarms of Matou familiars erupted from seemingly nowhere. Metal flashed and swarms were cut down in a fraction of a second, only this time the malign intelligence behind them did not recoil after the leading swarms were torn to shreds. Instead, it just fed more of itself into the whirlwind.

It was one and the same, after all.

From the lowest worm to the most vicious insect…

…they were all Makiri Zolgen.

And just as a man might shrug off the loss of a hair or a fingernail, it didn't matter how many of the swarm was lost. For every one of it lost, countless more were ready to take its place.

In contrast, the enemy was not nearly as enduring. Not even close. Even if the heavy metals which made up the blade kept it from being corroded by the mysteries present in each and every one of the swarm, to say nothing of the alchemies used to forge it in the first place, the arm which wielded it would eventually tire, the heart behind the arm would falter, and then the blade would fall, just another dumb and lifeless implement of metal as the swarm feasted.

For all that so many claimed that flesh was weak, and that metal was strong, Makiri Zolgen long knew otherwise to be true.

Metal was weak. Flesh was strong.

So it was, so it had been, and so it would always be.

Through it all, Sakura just stood at the eye of the storm. To the unaided eye, she appeared to be standing still, face grit and eyes narrowed with pain and concentration, sweat pouring down in large drops. Magic circuits glowed blue and hot, while her left hand was contorted into a claw, the arm randomly twitching and shuddering every so often, where the right arm and hand held her saber in a relaxed low guard.

Sufficiently-reinforced eyes though, or a video recording appropriately slowed down, would show that she was anything but standing.

On the contrary, she was moving around Darnic and the three homunculi in a circle, moving too fast for the Human eye to follow unaided. And her right arm…

…it was even faster, swinging and cutting through the swarm at such speed that hundreds of familiars would be reduced to mulch in a second.

Ironically, there was nothing particularly profound about the mystery behind it. It was just reinforcement, augmented and stabilized by the Tohsaka Magic Crest to a level that only families with accumulated historical weight of at least five hundred years should be able to do _without _a crest. And even then, the Tohsaka Magic Crest should _not _be able to do this…

…assuming, of course, that the Tohsaka Magic Crest _truly _reflected Tohsaka's mere two hundred-year history. Considering that most of the crest was actually an Edelfelt Crest, and _that_ was five hundred years old…

…well…

Still…it was clear that Sakura was struggling. She had yet to fully integrate her crest, and was dependent on drugs and a specially-crafted mystic code to even be able to use it at this point in time, and with a daily time limit at that.

While she held up well to the strain at the start, after twenty minutes, she was buckling under the pressure. And while her daily time limit was approximately one hour, factoring in the extreme strain this level of performance put on her body…

"_She won't last much longer._" Darnic grimly thought, eyes narrowed darkly. "_But she doesn't have to. Zolgen is a sadist. At the beginning it might be content to just send its swarm against its prey, and if they were overwhelmed quickly, that would be the end of that. But against someone like Sakura…someone who should have been its slave but escaped thanks to mere childish impulse over a decade ago…and me, who escaped from it over half a century ago…no…when we begin to buckle…it will show itself…it will want to savor our defeat in person…to witness our…despair, on our faces before it consumes us…but when that time comes…_"

Darnic reached up with a hand, and ran it through his hair. "_That will be my chance._" He thought. "_Complete the circle…life and death…force it back into the life cycle of the World, and end Makiri Zolgen as he should have ended centuries ago…hold on granddaughter…hold on…just a little bit more…_"

Unknowing of her grandfather's thoughts, Sakura focused on maintaining the circle of defense around them. But as the minutes ticked by, she began to slip. Small things first, such as the mushed remains of dead familiars splashing inside the circle as opposed to outside, indicative of Sakura's precise bladework beginning to slip, failing to angle just so to destroy _and _keep the circle unbroken.

It was random at first, but then grew increasingly common. Then worms began to be seen trying to crawl into the circle, only to be cut down an instant after, but further proof regardless of Sakura reaching her limit. Insects followed, and it wasn't long before the homunculi were striking down and away, cutting down those familiars beginning to slip inside in increasing numbers.

Darnic's face darkened, and biting his lip, raised a boot and crushed a worm underfoot. Foul smoke hissed up as the leather of his boot was corroded by its fluids, and then laughter could be heard coming from all around, deep and gravelly, as one might expect of an old man.

"Zolgen!" Darnic roared, pulling out a pair of Spanish flintlocks, made from carved wood with delicate gold detail. Pointing seemingly at random into the swarm, he fired once, and then twice, gunpowder erupting in bursts of smoke. More laughter ghosted from the swarm in response, followed by thoughts heavy with evil.

_Yes…that's it…struggle some more…_

A third flintlock could be heard firing in the distance…

…and then Zouken Matou's body was falling to the ground next to the tree he'd been standing beside. His face was twisted from shock and surprise, features frozen in the rictus of death, a small bullet hole visible on his chest.

And there standing before him, holding a flintlock in a hand, was Darnic.

The swarm collapsed as Zouken's corpse fell to the ground, dying insects literally throwing themselves against the surrounding ground due to simple inertia. Here and there a limb or a wing twitched, but it was over.

After five hundred years of evil, Zouken Matou…Makiri Zolgen was dead.

In the next instant, the ground _bloomed_. The mulch and remains of destroyed familiars sprouted forth verdant grasses and colorful flowers, while creepers wove around the crumbling remains of Zouken, also sprouting and breaking apart until a flowering bush was in its place.

Darnic took a deep breath, and relaxing, looked around with a smile. "_I see._" He thought. "_So…this is what happens when the Curse of Life meets Twelve Faces of Death and together reforms the Circle of Life and Death…interesting…_"

Looking down at the flintlock in his hand, Darnic's musings were broken by the sound of tearing cloth. Alarmed, Darnic turned to its source…

…and then was rushing over to a hyperventilating Sakura, struggling to inject herself in the heart. Her left sleeve had been torn open, exposing her mystic code and the redlining gauge thereon, the critical red light burning angrily.

"…Gordes…" Darnic snarled as he tended to his collapsing granddaughter. "…get Gordes and a medical team here NOW!"

* * *

Celenike(II)…no, not Celenike(II) anymore…just Celenike now…not when the previous 'prime' Celenike had ceased to be self-aware hours ago…she could still see her now, her body bloated with cancerous growths, her extremities rotted from the inside out by bacterial colonies, spilling forth ichor saturated with bacterial and viral spores, fungus forming in great sheets around and over her. For all that, she was still alive, the anchor of the Curse of Life spreading through Fuyuki's undercity, trailing after the various colonies and nests of worms and other familiars that the Dead Apostle Makiri Zolgen had planted across the city, and forcing them back into the World's life cycle once more.

That was all the Curse of Life was, really. Death…and through death, life once more. As flesh rotted and festered, it provided warmth, food, a place even, for other and new forms of life to grow and flourish with and in.

It was an angle Celenike had to admit she'd never considered before, never thought to take her Art in until Lord Darnic had brought it up before her. Shame that…it would have made a most…interesting, line of study.

By itself though, it wouldn't have been enough to kill Makiri Zolgen. In the worst case scenario, it'd probably absorb the curse, and make it part of itself. What a disaster that would be.

But the Curse of Life wouldn't have to do it alone. Celenike wouldn't have to face Makiri Zolgen alone either, at least by extension. Oh no…in this plan, she just had to expose it to the curse, and since it and its swarm were one, once the swarm was exposed, it was too, without Celenike needing to step inside the heart of its territory.

The rest would be up to Lord Darnic, striking down the Dead Apostle with Twelve Faces of Death, with the Curse of Life ensuring no trace of the Dead Apostle remained afterwards from which it could be resurrected from. And it looked like he had succeeded, as Celenike's familiars – such that were left – informed her that the colonies and nests struggling had all experienced a bad case of sudden death…

…and were now blooming with life.

The Twelve Faces of Death had succeeded, it seemed. And the Curse of Life as well. How nice…

Celenike was dying. The pressure suit she was wearing, here at a large chamber in the middle of the underground network where the rituals to invoke the curse had been conducted, had turned out to be insufficient to protect her from the curse. Or rather…insufficient to protect her from the _backlash _of the curse.

Life itself didn't take kindly to being manipulated like so, to be used as a weapon. Interesting…very interesting…was it really surprising though, that unlike death which was willing to be used as a weapon in so many forms, life refused to allow that same privilege?

Interesting…very interesting…such a shame she wouldn't have the opportunity to study that question further in depth…

…Celenike was dying…her pressure suit had corroded away, compromising the interior and allowing bacterial, viral, and fungal spores to enter and infect her, to say nothing of toxic byproducts the other Celenike's body's nearby was giving off as it rotted alive. Soon…Celenike would suffer the same fate.

She didn't mind, though. On the contrary, to die by her own curse…

…what an interesting and most unexpected experience…

…as she stared at the grinning, half-rotten face of her other self, Celenike reflected on the Twelve Faces of Death Lord Darnic had used alongside her curse to end his ancient nemesis. Such a grandiose name…fitting perhaps, for a conceptual weapon meant to end a centuries-old Dead Apostle…but for all that, it was such an unassuming thing, at least by appearance.

They were essentially just round bullets for use in a flintlock. They didn't look special at all.

But as the old saying went, appearances can be deceiving.

Twelve things they were made them from, one for each face of death. Alchemically-condensed, and then forged into their final form.

First were the bones of a prehistoric tribe of proto-Humans, dating back to a million years ago. Known to modern science as _Homo erectus_, they had been the first to harness fire, whether to warm and light themselves, to cook their food, clean their water, and to fend off predators and their enemies.

And ultimately, they were the first to learn of its dangers. This tribe had done so the hard way. Paleo-archeologists didn't know how, but it seemed a fire had gone out of control in the cave the tribe had been using as their home, burning or smoking them to death before bringing the cave down, burying what was left and preserving them for posterity.

Stealing the bones from the archives of the Smithsonian, Lord Darnic had used them as part of his trump card against Makiri Zolgen. They became Death's face, absolute across time, ruling over Humanity a million years ago as it ruled over them now, and would continue to rule over them when the stars went out.

Second, there were the remains of Pharaoh Seti I, of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Lord Darnic had stolen the body, and rendering it down, used it as part of his trump. The pharaoh would also become a face of death, on how no matter how great and powerful one was, death was even greater and more powerful still.

As the one of the pharaoh's descendants would eventually say, "Behold my works, ye mighty, and despair."

Strong words…for a ruined sculpture in the middle of empty desert.

Third were the bones of Sparta's cast-off children. Abandoned to die of exposure or by the fangs of predators due to not being what their city's egotistic and testosterone-poisoned leaders had wanted them to be, condemned even before they could walk much less speak…

…Lord Darnic had taken their bones, and remade them into another face of death. To death, innocence was meaningless.

Fourth were the bones of the people of Pompeii. Simultaneously burned and buried alive as they sought to flee Vesuvius' eruption, their remains were mummified by hot ash and gas, preserving their final agonies for all time. Taking those remains, Lord Darnic crafted yet another face for death, on how even nature itself is but a servant of death, and ironically, preserved those it claimed as a reminder for future generations.

A reminder of its power, that is.

Fifth were the bones of Emperor Commodus of Rome. Similar yet different to Pharaoh Seti I, the man had been murdered by his trusted confidante and bodyguard, Quintus Aemilius Laetus, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. His bones were remade into Death's face, one which cared nothing for bonds of trust, friendship, and duty.

Sixth were the ashes of Jeanne d'Arc herself. Her legend was well known, and needed no recap. Obtaining them was a challenge in itself, but Lord Darnic had eventually found and made contact with elements inside the Holy Church displeased at how a Dead Apostle was able to use technicalities to escape its rightful judgment. Long negotiations followed, and had ended with a vial of the saint's ashes being surrendered into the hands of the Romanian mage-lord.

They would form yet another face of Death, on how faith was no shield against it…and conversely, could serve a higher purpose. Did not Jeanne's martyrdom herald France's freedom against English tyranny? Did it not burn her place into history forevermore?

Seventh were the scabs taken and preserved by Spanish doctors during their conquest of the Americas, from the bodies of native slaves and subjects. Lacking any and all resistance to a disease they had never encountered before, millions…tens of millions had perished, leaving behind a ruined civilization and a broken people enslaved to their conquerors from across the sea.

Taken from a museum in Spain, Lord Darnic had used the scabs to make another face of death, on how it cared not if its greed and hunger wiped out entire cultures, nations, and peoples.

Eighth were the remains of a witch hunter from Germany, dating back to the insanity and wild accusations of witchcraft which had plagued Northern Europe during the early modern period. How many innocents had perished in that madness, and for neither good reason nor result? It didn't matter…

…another face of death, uncaring whether or not there was true reason behind whenever it claimed yet another life.

Ninth was one of the guillotines used in the bloodiest years of the French Revolution. Liberty…equality…fraternity…how many had lost their heads to the mad braying of the mob with the excuse of doing so in the name of those lofty ideals? Lord Darnic had taken that guillotine, and used it to craft a face of death, perhaps the bloodiest of them all, seeking only to sate its hunger for blood and life, nothing more and nothing less.

Tenth were the bones from soldiers on both sides who had fought in the Siege of Verdun. One of the longest and bloodiest battles of the First World War, with over half a million casualties…the face made from the remains of that battle was nothing less than the death of glory. For the battle had ended once and for all any and all notions that war and battle were glorious things, worth seeking for their own sake…

…or it should have. Pity the Human race was too _stupid _to learn that lesson.

It mattered not…ideals were meaningless in the face of death. They too would end, no matter how Humanity sought to delude themselves otherwise.

Eleventh was nothing less than one of the richest men in the world in this day and age. Lord Darnic had simply walked up to his mansion, and hypnotizing him and his, had walked out with the man and taking him away, rendered him down for his trump. The enterprising man became a face of death…

…as he always had been. Thousands had died in his mines clawing out gems from the depths of the Earth…tens of thousands more had died by weapons he made and sold…hundreds of thousands had been poisoned and doomed to die slow deaths by the adulterated goods he offered…

…the…twelfth…what was…the twelfth again…?

Celenike couldn't quite…remember…something about a book…taken…from a monastery…where…where was that…monastery…again? Tibet…Nepal…a book…written in…in a language…not…not of man…something…yellow…king…yellow…death…unknown…

The witch's thoughts trailed off as her mind began to shut down, the raging tumors in her brain rendering it impossible to think. Convulsing as her death rattle began, black buboes festering on her flesh began to burst one after the other, spilling forth corrupted ichor. Worms crawled out, pale and sickly, and crawling away, only made it a few inches before they too began to die, sprouting forth sickly and poisonous growths that also lived for a furiously short time before dying…

…and in death, brought forth more life, in a vicious cycle…

…in distant Romania, Celenike(III) Isecolle Yggdmillennia awoke. And then she pouted.

"_They died before they could backup their memories?_" she unhappily thought. "_What a waste…_"

* * *

A/N

Sorry for the long wait, but I had to sanitize the chapter. The original version was much gorier, like something out of a 40k Nurgle Daemon World (well, Celenike's POV was), and I had to sanitize otherwise I'd have been infracted.

Anyway…! I'd like to extend my thanks to Zahariel, for letting me use the basic idea of the twelve demons summoned by Khayon in his 40k fanfic, Fifteenth Ascendant. Only in my case, they're not demons, and more 'faces of death'. Thanks, it was very generous of you, and I really appreciate it.

On Celenike…no, it's not like Touko despite what you might think. After some research, I found that despite her own (superficial) angst on the subject, Touko is still Touko, i.e. her soul simply jumps between bodies. In Celenike's case, that's not what happens, hence Celenike(III)'s – or is she really Celenike(_III_) – griping that memories weren't backed up before her other selves died.


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 13

"How is she?"

Sakura lay on a bed in her and Caules' shared suite aboard the airship _Ceahlău Massif_, her eyes closed in slumber with only the faint sound of her breathing to be heard. Dressed only in a hospital gown, her sheets had been pulled up to her chest, and her left arm placed crosswise on top. It had been wrapped in bandages, over which Gordes had wound several silver chains to hold spirit-aligning mystic codes in place.

"She will sleep for the next few hours." Gordes said, while adjusting Sakura's IV. "I've added a sedative to let her sleep longer, let her recover more and better from her exertion in the battle against Zolgen. The drugs for her crest can be introduced intravenously if it comes to that."

Darnic nodded, and then Gordes turned to him.

"That said," he continued. "That battle's put too much strain on her and her crest. It shouldn't be repeated, at least not until her crest has fully stabilized and been integrated into her body."

"What do you suggest, no, what do you recommend, then?" Darnic asked.

"She shouldn't use the crest at all for a whole year." Gordes firmly said. "The same goes for the circuits in her left arm, though in case of emergency I suppose she could…after several months."

"That will hinder her ability to use magecraft." Darnic remarked.

"She's done so much for us already." Gordes countered, and refused to back down when Darnic turned questioning eyes to him. "I am aware that there is still a long way to go. But even with everything we've done for and given to her over the past decade, what she's done for us in return during the previous months: claiming the Tohsaka Crest, the position of Second Owner and with it legal justification to operate with relative freedom in this city, her contributions during the battle…isn't she due some leeway?"

Darnic stared at Gordes for a few moments, and then turned back to Sakura. He stared at the slumbering girl for several moments, and then nodded slowly. "Yes…it is as you say." He finally agreed. "Very well…I'll have any heavy duties that would previously have been assigned to her be given to others. We'll follow your medical recommendations, and have her recover properly. Let's not push one of our best too fast and too far and unduly risk losing her and what she can do."

Gordes bowed. "Thank you, my lord." He said.

Darnic waved him off. "We look after our own." He said dismissively. "There's no need to be too thankful, it's only to be expected."

"As you say, my lord."

Darnic then hummed, rubbing at his chin in thought. "I wonder…" he murmured before giving a smirk and a small laugh. "I take my leave."

"My lord?" Gordes asked curiously.

"Make sure to clean up this room." Darnic ordered while turning to leave. "When I return, I'll be bringing my granddaughter's only other blood relative aside from her sister, after all."

"…I see. It will be done, my lord."

Darnic nodded with approval, and continued on his way out of the suite. As he exited it, he raised an eyebrow at the sight of Caules waiting there. "Caules…of course…come to look after your cousin?" he asked.

"Yes, grandfather." Caules answered with a nod.

"How's your Japanese, Caules?" Darnic asked.

"…I think it's passable." Caules hesitantly answered in accented Japanese.

"True…" Darnic agreed, and then patted the young man on the shoulder as he walked by. "But it will do. Be polite to your future mother-in-law, do you hear me?"

"Yes, grandfather…wait, what?"

Darnic didn't answer, simply giving a curt wave over a shoulder as he strolled away and down the corridor. Caules stared after him blankly, and then looking at the door to his and Sakura's suite, briefly glanced his grandfather's way once more before quickly getting inside.

He still wasn't sure what his grandfather had just said, but that aside, he did plan to look after his cousin regardless.

* * *

Aoi Tohsaka had lived a lonely life.

She'd always known it would be like this, ever since she'd learned that her lot in life would have been to marry into one or another magus family. She'd provide children for them and keep their homes, and while she'd hopefully come to love her husband and be loved in turn, she'd also prepared herself for a marriage wherein the most she could get would have been a respectful relationship between them both.

At the very least, she'd love the children she'd have.

And even since she'd married Tokiomi Tohsaka, her expectations had been met with mixed results.

Tokiomi had been cold and aloof, with patriarchal opinions about the family. He had loved her in his own way though, and she had loved him in her own way in turn. They'd had two wonderful children together, Rin and Sakura, who they'd both loved very dearly.

At least…Aoi had thought they had.

As was customary among magi, only one child in any generation could be trained to become a magus. The other child would either be left ignorant of their heritage, or even if they did know, they would neither be taught nor allowed to learn on their own. They would support the family in other ways, or if they so wished, they could leave and walk their own path.

Tokiomi however had found this a waste for their youngest, such was her potential to be a magus. So he had arranged for her to be adopted by another family, the Matou, who had been an old ally of the Tohsaka, and indeed, one of whom – Kariya Matou – had even been Aoi's childhood friend.

That family had apparently withered, and could no longer produce children with the ability to use magecraft anymore. Sakura would thus become their heiress, reviving their bloodline while gaining the chance to become a magus that Tokiomi could not give her.

The only price would be that she would stop being family. She would stop carrying their name, would stop calling them her parents, and Rin her sister. They would never be allowed to see each other again, outside of strictly-controlled and prearranged circumstances, in order to preserve family secrets.

Such was the lot of a magus.

It was a painful sacrifice, and one all the Tohsaka had been prepared to bear. Tokiomi…Aoi…Rin…all so Sakura could get her own chance to be a magus…out of the love they bore for her…they would give her up…

…at least, that's what Aoi told herself.

She'd always told herself that she loved her children more than anything in the world. She'd do anything for them…anything…

…and one night, Sakura went to bed as she always did…

…but come the next morning, and she was gone. There was only a note, with two sentences written by crayon in clumsy _hiragana _characters.

_Goodbye._

_I love you._

Tokiomi searched for her of course…for all of two weeks. Then he stopped, and he never spoke of her again, and it was as though she – Sakura – had never existed at all. All mention and record of her ever being born or being one of their family disappeared, Tokiomi wiping them away in rage and shame after being forced to get on his knees and bow his head in apology to Zouken Matou for Sakura running away and breaking this most recent accord between their families.

Aoi lost everything that moment. She wanted to speak, say the words she should have said when it was decided Sakura would have to go, but she couldn't. She just couldn't. It wasn't her place. Hers was to keep the house, and look after the children…look after her only child.

_I love you._

It was like poison. Those words were like poison.

Tokiomi turned cold and obsessive towards winning the Fourth Holy Grail War that would come the following year. Kariya had returned a few months after Sakura had run away, and had exploded in rage on learning that Sakura was to become a Matou, only to calm down on learning she had run away before it could happen.

Instead, he had smiled, and said two sentences which had Tokiomi throwing him from their house with a prohibition against ever appearing in front of them ever again.

_Good…being a beggar is better than becoming one of my worthless family._

_Or staying as one of yours it looks like._

Aoi had lost her oldest friend that day. That much was evident from the look of contempt he had directed at her and her husband before Kariya had stormed off down the street, one that carried a terrible promise.

_I'll look for her._

_But when I find her, don't think I'll send her back to you._

_I won't let you sell her off like a piece of meat again._

He had never said those words, and maybe it really was just her guilt and subconscious speaking to her, taunting her for her failures as a mother, but either way it was enough. She'd thought she loved her children, could and would do anything for them…

…but she was wrong. At the end of the day, all she could really do was bear and birth them, and keep house.

_I am so weak._

Tokiomi had fought and died during the Fourth Holy Grail War. His apprentice, Kirei Kotomine, survived, but the war had twisted him, turned him into someone with an empty heart who saw only distorted reflections of the world around him. Aoi had seen that much, and should have kept him away from their family. She did the best she could, but he was still the only one who could teach her daughter to be a magus. And so she'd let him, despite all her misgivings.

_Being magi has brought us nothing but loss and grief._

_She should just stop._

_I should tell her to stop._

_Tell her to find a different, better way of life._

_But…I…_

Thankfully, Rin had been strong. Stronger than Aoi had ever been, taking to Kirei's education well but keeping herself from being twisted by his own twisted self.

_I am so weak._

Then came the Fifth Holy Grail War, decades early, and into which Rin had thrown herself just as her father once did. Aoi should have stopped her, kept her from what had taken her father away in the first place, but in the end, she did nothing, just like she'd always done.

_I am so weak…so worthless…_

But Rin was stronger than her father, it turned out. She'd survived, made a friend in that war, and come out the winner. They'd ended the twisted existence that Kirei had been, and finishing school, with her friend Shirou Emiya from the war, had moved on to London and the Clock Tower, to continue their studies in the mysteries of the World. And so Aoi was left alone in the house, to look after it as she had always done, and always been meant to do.

_This is all I can do._

_I…I am…_

_…I am so pathetic…_

And then one day, people came knocking, people dressed in white and gold uniforms of a military cut. Most of them were albinos, escorting a European gentleman with long dark hair wearing a white cape over his uniform.

"Greetings," the man said with a nod as he met with Aoi in the Tohsaka mansion's foyer. "My name is Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, and I have come to collect you to meet with your daughter."

"My daughter…?" Aoi breathed, her heart freezing in her chest at the thought that something might have happened to Rin. "Is she alright? Did something happen to her?"

"She is currently in a medically-induced coma, but she should recover in a couple of days at most." Darnic said. "Please hurry and make preparations."

"Y-yes…I will…" Aoi said, and quickly hurried off.

Funny, how she had never thought to question Darnic's credibility, or which daughter he was referring to. Then again, she'd never thought to question authority before, and had long believed she had only one daughter left. Even so…

_That woman is so weak._

It was with that thought in mind that Darnic watched Aoi hurry away.

* * *

A strangled gasp echoed in the room as the matronly woman entered, and Caules was on his feet in an instant. He regarded her neutrally, as she slowly stepped into the room, pale and shaking with her hands over her mouth, and approached Sakura on her bed.

_So…that's Sakura's mother…I can certainly see the resemblance._

_Beyond that though…_

"W-w-what happened to her?" Aoi breathed as she stood next to Sakura opposite from Caules.

"Excessive physical exhaustion plus a nervous breakdown from overuse of certain spells." Caules answered while adjusting his glasses. "That's layman's terms, of course, though the details would mean little to you seeing as you aren't a magus, at least to my knowledge, are you Missus Tohsaka?"

Aoi looked up at Caules, and slightly lowered her face. "No, I am not." She admitted. "Pardon my rudeness, but who are you? You have the advantage of me, Mister…?"

"Caules," Caules said with a courtly bow. "Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia…and Sakura's fiancé."

"Fiancé?" Aoi echoed in surprise.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Caules asked.

"N-no…well…it's just that…you're both so young and…"

"Magi marry young." Caules said with a shrug as Aoi trailed off. "It's better that way, to have an heir and a spare before too long and something dangerous happens. It's easier to have children when you're young too, anyway. Some would even say this situation Sakura is in now proves we should have married sooner…"

Caules trailed off with a shrug, before giving Aoi an apologetic smile. "Well," he said. "I wouldn't want to rush things, and I doubt Sakura would either. She'll be fine. She's much stronger than you know."

"Yes…I suppose so…" Aoi murmured, her face dropping with a veiled expression of grief, regret, and shame. "…could you tell me about her?"

Caules stared at Aoi for several long moments, so much so that the matron began to fidget. And then sighing, he turned away to regard the young woman sleeping between them. "I could…but I think it's best that you hear about her from Sakura herself." Caules finally said. "It would be better that way, I think."

"…you're probably right." Aoi admitted after a moment. "I…I'm sorry…for putting you in this kind of situation."

Caules shook his head and gave a smile. "It's fine." He said.

Aoi nodded and then tilted her head. "Then," she said. "If you won't tell me about her, maybe you can tell me about yourself."

Caules grinned, and then gesturing for Aoi to take a seat, did likewise. "Of course," he said with a nod. "That much I can do."

* * *

"Status report?"

Gordes face twisted in disgust before he tossed a sheaf of papers in a file folder across a long table in the middle of the room. "It's no good." He said. "It's not just the ley lines that are compromised, but the faults across this entire region."

"Explain." Darnic said.

In response, Gordes directed their attention to a large, topographic map of the city and its environs. "Based on fragmentary evidence recovered from the relevant sites," he said and using an index finger to point out where those were. "Someone used explosives to compromise the integrity of the ley lines and faults over an extended period of time. Decades, in fact. Right now it isn't significant, but compared to approximately ten years ago there is a negative variable of approximately one per cent affecting their metaphysical and geological stability, respectively. This will double to two per cent by the end of this decade, then to four per cent at the end of the next decade, and so on."

Darnic nodded in understanding. "And the end result?" he asked. "Geologically-speaking, I mean. The ley lines growing unstable would clearly prevent them from fully recharging the Greater Grail, thus preventing a _Sixth _Holy Grail War…assuming the system here still operates normally, considering the Fifth Holy Grail War took place nearly half a century early."

"That was likely the result of the malfunction of the Lesser Grail from the Fourth Holy Grail War." Gordes said. "Evidence recovered by Einzbern at the time certainly seems to suggest so…"

"I see." Darnic interrupted with a nod. "Yes…that makes sense. The gathered prana – what of it that didn't go out of control and incinerate much of the surrounding city, that is – flowed back into the Greater Grail, where it remained and allowed a much reduced interval between Grand Rituals."

"As you say, my lord." Gordes said with a nod of his own. "Back to your question on what the effects of the sabotage on the ley lines will be…well, I must say whoever did this was simply put, an evil genius."

"What?"

"My lord, the damage to the region's faults _will _trigger an earthquake within the next few decades, of at least magnitude five if not higher." Gordes said with a shake of his head. "Exact predictions are difficult to make without further investigation with this much surety."

"…an earthquake…" Darnic muttered. "…were they trying to prevent another Grand Ritual?"

"…it is…uncertain…"

"But possible…?" Darnic pressed, and Gordes nodded. "Hmm…whoever is behind this was cunning…very much so if they were able to do this without attracting attention from Zolgen. Very well…what are the chances the earthquake will happen in the near future?"

"Almost nonexistent, my lord." Gordes said. "Indeed, I venture to say that is why Zolgen may not have noticed. The signs aren't obvious unless you know what you're looking for."

"I see." Darnic said while tapping the head of his cane against his other hand. "Very well…continue as planned, then."

"My lord?"

"There's no need to rush beyond what's necessary at this point." Darnic said. "Learn what you can and need from the ley lines here, all the while conducting preliminary preparations for the excavation at Mount Enzo."

"Yes, my lord." Gordes said with a nod. "On that note, I assume we will relocate as scheduled?"

"Preferably yes."

"It will be done, my lord."

Darnic nodded with approval, and then turned to another one of the scions attending to him here, in Yggdmillennia's field base at Fuyuki. "Status?" he asked.

"Relocation of the Zolgen library is complete." The man said with his hands held behind him. "Enhanced security measures are in place, and all relevant procedures were followed."

"Excellent," Darnic said approvingly. "Let's not take any chances that the vampire living there may have left some surprises for us."

"As you say, my lord."

"Did you find any mystic codes or resources of value?"

"None in the mansion, though we are currently looking into possible safety deposit boxes and the like inside banks and other places." The scion replied.

Darnic nodded again. "Very good," he said. "Once everything of magical value has been removed, burn the mansion and the property to the ground. Leave nothing standing afterwards, and make sure to sanitize the grounds. I want nothing left of Zolgen and his ilk behind."

"We are to destroy the interior furnishings and the like?" the scion asked curiously.

"Yes." Darnic simply said. "Is there a problem?"

"Not at all, my lord." The scion said with a deep bow. "I merely wish to clarify."

Darnic nodded, and then dismissed the man. The scion saluted, and then smartly turned to leave. "I imagine we'll be leaving Tohsaka to Sakura once she's recovered?" Gordes asked.

"She doesn't need her crest – not really – to go through her own house anyway." Darnic said.

"That she does not." Gordes agreed, before returning to his work.

* * *

Fiore sighed as she remotely piloted one of her automatons through the undercity. _Mentally_ sighed, actually, since her body was currently in a state of unconsciousness what with her mind relocated inside this automaton. It was relatively-safe, as her soul – the truly vulnerable and critical part of herself – was still with her body, and so long as she didn't find anything too much for the Human mind to comprehend, then there shouldn't be a danger.

In any case, she was a magus, so she could comprehend more than most Humans would normally be able to.

Right now, her mission was to reach Celenike's ritual chamber, and terminate the propagation of the Curse of Life. It had stopped spreading beyond the area of effect, and its effects were non-reversible so there was no danger of Makiri Zolgen suddenly coming back to life, but anything that entered the area of effect would still be cursed. And that was problematic, as the undercity while not frequented by many, still was on a regular basis by some few.

The undercity housed much of the city's infrastructure, after all. In addition to the sewers, there were gas lines, water pipes, electrical cables, storm and flood drains, and many more. Already, there were incidents of maintenance personnel getting adversely affected by the curse, and which the family's agents had had to deal with, what with Sakura still unconscious.

No, it had to stop now, and Fiore was the one to do so.

So far, the journey into the undercity had gone well. Entering had been easy, and reaching the depth where the ritual area was located at similarly easy. Getting there was more difficult, though.

The first obstacle had been a thick patch of bioluminescent flora, almost like trees with translucent bark and dark-colored insides. Fiore had broken through with her automaton's pincers and sheer bulk, the acidic sap kept from eating through the automaton's bronze shell by a constant stream of current running through the outer layer, disrupting the chemical reactions that would have resulted in corrosion.

The flora obscured the automaton's sights, however, causing Fiore to be unpleasantly surprised when she broke through only to fall several feet into a deep trench. No…not trench…

…it was a sewer, or had been, and was now a…reef, of all things.

Vermin swarmed from the bioluminescent growth all around, ranging from those smaller than a man's fingernail, to those as big as an arm. They threw themselves at the automaton, frying themselves by the hundred against its electrically-charged outer shell, but dangerously causing internal temperatures to rise as a result.

Alarmed but mournful at the thought of causing massive damage, Fiore responded by charging her primary and secondary ether cannons. The former fired first, hurling an incandescent blast of energy surging down the reef, heating stone to red-hot and turning vermin and growth alike to ash.

Then the secondary cannons fired, ripping up the automaton's surroundings even as Fiore surged current through the outer shell. Alarms screamed through her mind, and quickly rerouting systems, performed an emergency dump of heat from the automaton's heat sinks.

Already the vermin were regrouping for another attack against the interloper…

…only to be cooked alive, shells bursting with the sound of popping corn as heat sinks discharged all around.

Adjusting her automaton's internal systems, Fiore retracted the ether cannons and pincers, and switching on the anti-gravity systems, powered up the experimental ether shield into a glowing shell around her automaton. Tracing the map of the underground she'd been provided, Fiore isolated her location, and triangulating the ritual grounds, proceeded to float in its direction through the path burned clear by her primary ether cannon earlier.

_Here's to things going smoothly from here on out._

* * *

Sakura stirred under sheets, her mind reacting to stimuli from all around. With her eyes closed, it was her ears that became her primary source of input. Two voices, indistinct for now but quickly becoming clearer with every passing moment, a man and a woman's.

The former was familiar, and she quickly recognized as belonging to Caules.

The latter though…

…it was also familiar, and brought up a surge of equal parts longing and resentment deep within. She couldn't place it though, and that was frustrating.

Blinking her eyes open, Sakura slowly moved her head from side to side on its pillow, blinking quickly to get her eyes to adjust. Slowly, her vision shifted from an incoherent blur of color and light into the familiar sight of her and Caules' shared suite on the airship _Ceahlău Massif_.

She could also see a pole standing next to her bed, from which hung a bag of saline solution, linked to her by a line and an IV running into the veins of her right hand. Now that she could see herself in part, she could see that she was dressed in a medical smock, while her left arm was tied up in a sling and wrapped up in bandages. Silver chains were firmly wound around it, along with spirit-aligning mystic codes.

The sight caused phantom pain to flare up, the fingers on her left hand twitching in a reflexive reaction.

But that didn't matter, not when she recognized the matron speaking to her fiancé next to her bed. It was her…

"_You_…" Sakura said, the word coming out of her mouth dry and parched, but unmistakably filled with resentment and accusation for all that. Inwardly, Sakura was surprised to find herself wincing at the venom in her own voice.

Aoi flinched back at the sound, her smile and face alike falling and whatever words she had been about to say dying on her lips. In the next moment though, Caules was there. "Easy there," he said reassuringly, and helping Sakura up to a sitting position with some pillows. "You're not supposed to be awake for a long while yet though…"

"Hmm…sleepy…" Sakura murmured. It was true. Caules' words had dampened the fire which had erupted on the inside at the sight of her mother, and as it died, the sedatives in her blood began to regain effectiveness. It became a struggle to stay awake, Sakura's eyes quickly falling to half-mast.

"…well…if you fall asleep…we won't blame you."

"Hmm…what's she doing here…"

Aoi looked away in shame, while Caules sighed and squeezed Sakura's shoulder chidingly. "Grandfather brought her here." He said. "He told her that you were in trouble, so she came without question. Don't worry, I haven't told her anything about you. She wants to hear them but I think you should be the one to tell her."

"Hmm…thanks…"

Caules shrugged. "No problem." He cheerfully said.

Silence fell in the room, no one knowing what else to say. Sakura just sat on her bed, swaying near-imperceptibly as she struggled to stay awake, while Caules stood next to her, one hand on her shoulder. Aoi sat on the other side, hands held tightly against each other in her lap, and keeping her face down.

"…Sakura…" she eventually whispered, finally raising her face filled with regret. "…I'm sorry."

Sakura glanced sharply at her, or as sharply as she could while struggling to stay awake. Aoi made sure to meet her youngest child's accusing eyes, but after several moments they softened, and Sakura turned away while relaxing against her pillows.

"…later…" she murmured, as Caules helped her lie down and she closed her eyes. "…we'll talk…later…"

Aoi's face brightened, but Sakura was already asleep once again. Still, it was a start, and Caules couldn't help but smile at the thought.

* * *

A/N

Sometimes, all you really need to say is 'sorry'. Or like in Heaven's Feel, 'I love you'.


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 14

"Ah, so you really are out of the hospital. That's good."

"It really is." Rin replied from where she was sitting on the couch of her London house. A box of tools was open on the coffee table, with machine parts neatly laid out beside it. Rin held a tool in her right hand, with which she was performing preventative maintenance on her puppet left arm. Given the delicate work, she kept her eyes on the puppet limb's innards, only ever looking at the manual and schematics every so often, and speaking to the newly-arrived Shirou and Luvia without looking at them. "It was getting really boring there."

"Didn't you have books though?" Luvia asked.

"Finished reading through them, and I didn't want to have the hospital staff run to fetch me some more to read." Rin said with a shrug. "Besides, I didn't really have any reason anymore to stay there. Both my heart, and my arm are fine now."

"Hmm…and yet here you are, tinkering with the latter."

"It's called preventative maintenance." Rin firmly said. "Not tinkering: there's a difference."

Luvia shrugged in her turn. "I suppose there is." She said, before wandering off. Shirou though, stayed in the living room. After a few moments just standing there, he sighed and sat down on a nearby armchair.

"So…" he began. "How are you doing?"

"…could be better…" Rin muttered, before sparks erupted and a puff of acrid smoke went up.

"Rin…!" Shirou said in alarm.

"Oh calm down." Rin snapped at him, finally looking though only for a moment before returning to her arm. Setting down the tool she was using earlier, she picked up a pair of tweezers, and reaching inside the puppet limb, pulled out a burnt object. "It's just some grit that managed to work itself in the mechanisms."

"I…I see."

Rin hummed while taking the tool from earlier again, and resumed her maintenance. Shirou looked on in silence for several minutes, until finally Rin nodded in satisfaction. "There," she said, putting the tool aside and flexing her arm and fingers before replacing the outer panel. "All done."

"You still have to screw it in place, though." Shirou pointed out.

Rin rolled her eyes. "Of course I do." She said. "I know that."

Taking a screwdriver, she screwed the outer panel in place, and then flexed her arm and fingers one more time before unrolling her sleeve. Smoothing the cloth, Rin then buttoned the cuffs before flexing her fingers a third time, and then smiled cheerfully at Shirou. "There," she smugly repeated. "All done."

Shirou nodded. "So…" he began again. "How have you been while we were gone?"

"…lonely." Rin admitted after a moment. "I mean…we've tried to make this place as welcoming as it could be, and it's certainly better than the hospital, but it still isn't home. And it's a big place…too big for one person. I…I miss my mother. I missed you. I even missed Luvia, for God's sake. And…I miss my sister."

Shirou was silent, unable to find the right words to say. After a few moments, Rin sighed and sat back against the couch. "I haven't been moping around though." She said. "Don't worry about that…I've kept house, worked through and even finished the pile of academic work that's built up ever since I had to stay at the hospital, and I've even returned to my classes in the Department of Mineralogy over the past week. So yeah, simply put I've been keeping busy."

"But…?" Shirou pressed, and Rin deflated.

"…still lonely…" Rin said softly.

"…Rin…" Shirou said just as softly before he gave a reassuring smile. "Well, right now you shouldn't be lonely anymore. I'm back, after all, and so is Luvia. And the next time she asks for help, you can come with us."

Rin made a face at that, but Shirou preempted her. "It's better than being stuck in an empty house." He pointed out. "Unless you can make more friends at the Clock Tower, that is."

"…point." Rin conceded, and Shirou smiled.

"Alright then." He said with a nod, before getting to his feet. "I'll go and see if Luvia needs help making tea. And then we can talk about our trip to America."

"Right, right…" Rin dismissively said with a wave as Shirou walked off. And then his words sank into Rin's consciousness. "Wait, what? Luvia's running around on her own in _my_ kitchen? Oh hell no!"

Fired up at the thought, Rin sprang off the couch and hurried after Shirou towards the kitchen.

* * *

Harsh xenon lights lit up the underground space, allowing uniformed homunculi and magi alike to work in relative comfort. Both wore gas masks in case toxic gases were released from further underground, and safety lines were everywhere. Automatons and familiars flew around performing their duties, though spirits were nowhere to be seen, kept away to prevent any…accidents, considering what was in the middle of the underground workspace.

The Holy Grail: a gigantic sphere of rock several meters across, carved open in front and its interior sculpted and inlaid with golden material into a statuary of three beautiful, long-haired women clustered around a central point. At that point, should the Grail ever achieve completion, a path would open, leading straight to the gates of the Root.

That was why no spirits were present in this underground space. The Grail fed on spirits for energy, after all, dissolving them into prana to fuel its mysteries. And while most spirits – such as the kind most magi both within and outside Yggdmillennia made use of – would provide only a paltry amount of prana, it was still only prudent to keep them away from the Grail regardless.

"…work is proceeding as scheduled." Gordes remarked as Darnic joined him on an observation deck. The portly man pressed a key on the control panel, and brought up a series of holographic screens. "We should be able to excavate within forty-eight hours."

"Just as planned then." Darnic said with a nod. "I've read your report. You've done well, factoring in the negative variability and inferring the configuration the founding families used to connect the ley lines to the Grail with an accuracy rating of eighty-four per cent."

"I'd be happier if I didn't have to rely on inference." Gordes grumbled. "Nevertheless, thank you for the compliment, my lord."

Darnic waved him off. "It is only due." He said. "Keep up the good work, not just when it comes to excavating the Grail and relocating it, but also in cracking Jubstacheit's archives."

"Of course, my lord." Gordes said with a nod. "It will be done."

Darnic nodded himself. "I will personally oversee the initial fitting of the Grail to Trifas' ley lines." He said. "That will take quite some time, time in which you should be able to fully access Jubtacheit's archives. Between those and what we can find in the Zolgen and Tohsaka materials, we can adjust and complete the Grail's fittings at our leisure afterwards."

"I'll be sure to double my efforts then." Gordes said. "Though not so much that I will rush things. That may prove problematic…"

"Indeed it would be," Darnic agreed. "Haste makes waste…"

Silence fell between the two men, who continued to watch the ongoing work while also musing on other matters. Gordes' thoughts were on the Einzbern archives in Germany, but Darnic…

"…why on Earth would anyone tamper with not just the ley lines, but the regional faults as well?" he finally said after a few minutes. "To delay the Sixth or Fifth Holy Grail Wars? To bury or perhaps even crush the Grail with an earthquake? If so, why?"

"…I do not know, my lord." Gordes said, before pressing another key on the control panel and bringing up more data. "I have, however, taken the liberty of organizing an investigative task force, which will have the responsibility of finding out who was responsible, and what they were aiming to achieve."

Darnic nodded slowly in approval. "Good…" he said. "…very good…keep me posted…"

"It will be done, my lord."

* * *

Things were getting out of hand.

The closer Fiore – or rather, the automaton housing her mind – got to the ritual grounds, the more surreal her surroundings were becoming. The concrete passageways all around were no longer just caked with fungal or coral-like growths, haphazard and organic, but a matrix of hexagonal segments that resembled what blood vessel walls would look like under a microscope.

The segments themselves were alive, respiring and recycling the humid and oxygen-heavy (one hundred per cent humidity and thirty-three per cent oxygen according to the automaton's sensors) air to sustain themselves and their environment in some strange symbiosis. How that was even possible in these dark and dank passageways was beyond Fiore.

More problematic was that as she entered these passageways, the segments recognized her as an intruder and began bringing to bear defensive measures. Segments swelled and bloated, before erupting pale streams and sheets of mucus that had the consistency of semi-liquid rubber. Possessing incredible tensile strength, the former stuck to the automaton's ether shield, and could stretch incredible distances before breaking, all the while pushing the automaton's anti-gravity and propulsion systems greatly.

The sheets of mucus impeded forward movement as direct barriers, and couldn't simply be pushed through, as they stuck to the ether shield. Worse, they hardened quickly once disconnected from the wall segments which produced them, forming brittle casts around the shield and impairing vision. And while individually light, as more and more casts formed around the shield, the cumulative weight also began impairing movement.

This forced Fiore to fire her secondary ether cannons to break them up, while also carving bleeding gashes into the surrounding walls. Dark ichor spilled out from the gashes, surprisingly basic and thus posing no threat to the automaton's shell should the shield be breached, but it triggered a more active defense mechanism.

Pale and amorphous shapes flowed at great speed down the passageway, and hurling themselves through the air engulfed the automaton, shield and all. To Fiore's shock, fluid pressures rose to nearly a hundred pounds per square inch, and causing alarms to scream as the shield simply collapsed, unable to bear the weight.

Diverting power from the shield generators to the outer shell, Fiore charged the latter with current, and causing the defense organisms to simply explode on contact. It seemed their bodies were almost completely made of water, and the current pouring through the shell excited them so much that they simply burst.

More and more of them came, and attempted the same only to blown apart on contact. Fiore proceeded, no longer floating through the air but rumbling over the ground to save energy for the outer shell.

The wall segments continued their attempts to impede her though, and forcing her to use her ether cannons to scour the walls to prevent them from latching on to the automaton's shell. By now other defense organisms were being brought to bear, in particular one that expended more than half its weight in simply hosing down the automaton with an acidic jet.

Sparks exploded and current arced as the outer shell was overloaded, and then bronze began to corrode at an incredible rate. While not as vulnerable as iron to corrosion, the latter still weakened the shell and forced Fiore to realize she was running out of time.

She needed to finish this expedition soon, before she was overwhelmed. Thankfully she'd used an automaton as opposed to coming in person – not that she really could seeing as she was disabled – as this place would be a deathtrap even to most magi.

Charging her primary ether cannon, she fired again, burning the last several meters of the passageway clean. And then reactivating her anti-gravity systems, floated up and forward at maximum speed.

_There it is!_

The thought passed through Fiore's mind as she saw the heart of the ritual grounds. Once a water pumping station, it was now a cancerous mound of twisted flesh, throbbing and heaving as dozens of vents pumped and exhaled spore-laden jets of air with every breath, while vessels both organically-grown or repurposed from compromised piping and tubing pumped dark-colored ichor.

The walls, ground, and ceiling were a honeycomb of pods, throbbing and heaving from the growths inside of them. Many were empty, having been hatched to defend against Fiore's incursion, while others were tended to by vermin-like organisms. And as Fiore looked on, more pods began to hatch, as the cancerous result of the Curse of Life struggled to defend itself against Fiore.

Patches of the honeycomb had been seared dead or dying by the primary ether cannon, giving Fiore some breathing room. Or so she thought: the wall segments around the passageway Fiore had passed through cancerously bloomed into life, turning into a heaving mass of flesh that pressed down from all around.

Ether cannons fired, burning away great chunks of flesh, but the growth continued unabated, smashing into the automaton and engulfing it. Sparks flew as ether cannons were crushed in their mounts, while alarms sounded as the outer shell was compromised.

Bronze plates crumpled and gave way, allowing feelers and tendrils of cancerous growth to pry into and take root inside the automaton's mechanisms. Attempts to unfold the pincers failed, the sections unable to move against the pressure all around.

Even the primary ether cannon was unable to fire. Fiore charged it, only for a growth to latch around the barrel and bend it so much as to compromise the delicate internal mechanisms.

_I've got no choice!_

Dumping all power into secondary systems, Fiore ejected a _second _automaton from the inside of the previous one. Unlike the latter, which was large, bulky, and non-humanoid, the former was an elegant, robot-like machine that flew through the air inside the chamber on anti-gravity wings.

Caught by surprise, the defenses were unable to prevent Fiore from getting close, and leveling twin ether rifles opened fire on full auto. Violet beams carved into the mass, spilling forth ichor…

…but it was simply too big, and she lacked power.

Worse, the mass simply erupted forth twisted tendrils of flesh, and grabbing Fiore's second automaton pulled it against itself and then began to pull it inside. Alarms again sounded through Fiore's mind as the second automaton was compromised, and much quicker given its lighter design, focused on agility over firepower and defense.

For a split-second, Fiore was torn, but then cursing at the loss of one of her greatest works, which had taken years to design and build, made her decision. Dumping all the operational data into backup servers, Fiore activate the self-destruct before purging her mind, causing it to be thrown back into her body halfway across the city.

Then spirit-powered generators inside both automatons went critical in great gouts of plasma. Metal, crystal, and rubber turned to vapor, burning energies scouring the ritual ground and the surrounding passageways clean. And then burning through the ceiling, it ruptured a water pipe, an electrical and fiber-optic conduit, and even a gas line.

That last sent more cleansing fire through the undercity, and blasted a hole through the subway and up through the ground and into the open air of downtown Fuyuki above. People fled as panic erupted at the stream of glowing plasma and burning gas blasting several feet into the air, only for the latter to die down in moments.

Even then, the heat was enough to shatter glass in the immediate are of the eruption, and set concrete glowing.

In her suite aboard the airship _Carpatin_, Fiore awoke with a crippling headache. "Aspirin…water…aspirin and water…" she groaned to her attendants, who hurried to obey as Fiore struggled to sit up.

The mission though, was accomplished. The Curse of Life was terminated, and the underground biosphere contained and sanitized. Those lost beforehand, plus the explosive conclusion would seed urban legends for years to come, but that was of no further concern to the authorities of the Moonlit World.

And that was enough. Taking aspirin for her headache, Fiore allowed herself to lie down for a bit, to rest and recover until she could properly deliver her report to her grandfather. And then she would see to her cousin.

_Come to think of it…it's been a while, hasn't it? Shouldn't she have recovered by now?_

_…we'll see soon enough, I'm sure._

* * *

Sakura and Aoi sat in the _Ceahlău Massif's _dining room, having brunch together. Caules had excused himself to give mother and daughter some time alone together, with only the restaurant staff left with them in the dining room. Even then, they were left largely alone unless they needed one thing or another.

Sakura's brunch was bacon and eggs, the latter cooked sunny side up. It was accompanied by freshly-baked black bread served with cheese, washed down with freshly-pressed fruit juice and freshly-brewed coffee. Aoi for her part had an egg and sausage omelet, also served with black bread and cheese, though washed down by tea in her case. A basket of fresh fruit sat between them.

Brunch was eaten in silence, awkwardly in Aoi's case, and with surprising ease in Sakura's. Or not: it was clear Sakura was prepared to let her mother make the first move. And if she didn't…

…well…

Bite by bite, brunch was slowly but steadily finished, until both women were left having hot drinks with each other at their table. Sakura lounged languidly in her seat, dressed once more in Yggdmillennia's uniform. This was in contrast to Aoi, and not just her casual, modern attire, but the uncomfortable and pained air around her.

Finally, she drew up the courage to address her youngest daughter. "Sakura," she began. "Will you come home?"

Sakura didn't answer at once, staring into the creamy surface of her coffee for a long moment. And then she smiled, and took a drink. "My home," she began in her turn. "Such that I have, is in Trifas in Romania. It's an old castle, going back to the Middle Ages, surrounded by rolling countryside, though there's a good-sized town about an hour away by car."

"I…I see…" Aoi despondently replied.

Sakura just smiled wider though. "Though," she said. "I wouldn't mind if you joined me there. Like I said, it's an old castle, and so it's pretty big. Plenty of room for guests and family…and while I'd rather not admit it, it is rather lonely, being the only one of Tohsaka Yggdmillennia there. So…how about it?"

Aoi stared at Sakura, who smiled expectantly at her. The silence stretched for several long moments, and then Aoi looked away, biting at her lip. Her eyes wavered, betraying the struggle within, between what the woman wanted against what she was expected to do. And then closing her eyes at the psychological strain, she let out a deep, hacking breath.

"I…my place is here…" she choked out. "I…I must look after the house…and…your father's grave is here…"

Sakura's eyes dropped to half-mast, while her expression turned cool. "…I don't have a father." She said after a moment, and causing Aoi to turn to her with a gasp. "I never had one."

"Sakura…you shouldn't say that…" Aoi breathed.

Sakura took another drink of her coffee. "I still have a mother, don't I?" she asked, looking at her mother with a subtle challenge in her voice and the tilt of her head.

"O-of course…" Aoi desperately said, the emotion betrayed by her cracking smile.

"Hmm…then why do you hesitate?" Sakura asked, and causing Aoi to reel back as though struck. "Why can't you simply be my mother instead of being a parrot for Tokiomi Tohsaka?"

"…when you have children of your own," Aoi weakly said, unable to meet her daughter's eye once more. "You will understand."

"Unlikely," Sakura refuted while repeatedly jabbing a finger in Aoi's direction. "For one thing, Caules is ten times the man Tokiomi Tohsaka ever was, even now. Even if Caules will never be head of the family, he will still be a better father and husband than Tokiomi could ever be. And for another thing, Caules respects me. Unlike that man who only ever saw you as a baby maker, a housekeeper, and a parrot to soften his words."

"That's not true!" Aoi cried, wringing her hands.

"Yes, it is." Sakura said, and causing Aoi to reel back once more. And then sighing, Sakura allowed the coldness to fade from her face. "And it's partly because of that that I forgive you. You couldn't have done anything. You never had the chance to do anything. That man made it so. But…that man is dead. Now…now you can make your own decisions…just like when you said sorry all those days ago…that man could never have said that."

Sakura paused and looked away. Aoi sat silent, still wringing her hands, and then Sakura drained her mug. "Or didn't you mean what you said back then?" she asked. "Am I really that much of an unwanted child as I thought I was when I ran away nearly twenty years ago?"

"Of course not!" Aoi said, only to flinch away as Sakura half-rose from her seat, slamming both her hands on the table.

"THEN WHY?" Sakura demanded. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE MY MOTHER? WHY CAN'T YOU BE THERE FOR ME LIKE YOU WERE FOR RIN? WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU LOVE ME BACK AS MUCH I AS LOVE YOU?"

"I…" Aoi stammered out, and flinched as Sakura pushed off the table with a shake of her head.

"I hate you…I really do…" she breathed heavily, though it was clear her heart wasn't in it. "…fine then…if you want to stay here…if you want to waste your life caring for that man's grave…then fine…if that's what you really want…then fine…"

Sakura strode away, her shoulders slumped. "Sakura…!" Aoi cried out, and Sakura paused mid-step. Silence hung pregnant with anticipation between them, Aoi soundlessly struggling to say what she wanted to say, but in the end, it was Sakura who broke it.

Briefly looking back over a shoulder, Aoi reeled back yet again at the old hurt in Sakura's eyes, that of a child abandoned by her family. And then she turned away, and took a deep breath. "Make sure to at least visit your grandchildren when you have them." Sakura said, and then walked away.

Aoi half-heartedly raised a hand, and then letting it fall, closed her eyes while shaking her head from side to side, tears falling helplessly down her cheeks.

_I…I am…_

* * *

"Oh, Sakura…!" Fiore cheerfully said, as her attendants showed Sakura into her suite. "I was just about to come and see you…"

Fiore trailed off as she quickly saw Sakura's morose mood, and with a gesture, dismissed her attendants. They bowed out, and then Sakura was stepping forward to sit next to Fiore. Fiore regarded her cousin with concern, and then reaching out, took a hand and held it reassuringly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"…they really don't want me." Sakura said softly. "Otherwise…they wouldn't hesitate so much…"

"…you know it's more complicated than that, Sakura." Fiore gently said.

"I do." Sakura admitted with a sigh. "But even so…I…"

Fiore stared at Sakura, who could only sit downcast on the couch. And then taking a deep breath, Fiore pushed herself off her wheelchair, and sitting down to Sakura, pulled her into a hug. "Come here, Sakura." Fiore said softly, holding Sakura tight and rubbing an arm comfortingly. "There, there…everything will be alright. If nothing else, you still have all the rest of us."

"…I do, don't I?" Sakura said, closing her eyes and sinking deeper into Fiore's embrace. "When all is said and done…I still have Yggdmillennia…"

"Yes, you do."

Sakura hummed and snuggled up against Fiore. They just sat there for a long time, the younger magus taking comfort in the older magus' embrace, though the silence was eventually broken when Caules slipped into his sister's suite. "Um…" he began. "Maybe I should go…"

"Stay." Fiore and Sakura chorused, and then staring at each other in surprise, the former beamed down at Sakura who pulled away with a sheepish smile.

Caules hesitated for a moment, and then steeling himself, hurried over to sit next to his fiancée. "I've been told you came out of the _Ceahlău Massif _as though someone had died." He said.

"My hopes and dreams just had their hearts ripped out." Sakura theatrically said, though she then sighed and shook her head. "Those damn Tohsakas…I don't know why I even bother. I should just forget about them…take what I can…let them rot…start over…"

Sakura paused and turned to Caules with eyes burning with anger and resentment. "I mean," she said. "We're going be married and starting a family in a few years so…why? Why do I even bother?"

"…because you love them, that's why." Caules said after a moment, and reaching up, wiped a tear from Sakura's eye. "And that's the best part of you…it's what makes you better than them…"

Sakura looked away, her jaw set with bitterness. "…you two…all of Yggdmillennia…" she said softly. "Where would I be without any of you?"

"…I don't know." Caules said before taking Sakura's hand, and entwining his fingers with her own. Sakura turned her head to look at him, and he smiled at her before closing their hands together. "But I wouldn't want to know."

Sakura smiled back, and nodded once. "Thanks…for being here…for always being here, Caules." She said, before turning to Fiore as well. "You too, Fiore."

"We'll always be with you, Sakura." Fiore said, placing an arm around Sakura's shoulders, and clumsily giving her a hug. "We'll always be your family, no matter what."

"I know…and I'm so very thankful for that."

* * *

A/N

Are Sakura Matou and Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia really all that different from each other? I'd say otherwise, and that if they ever met, once the ice is broken, both would find a lot of common ground between them. Their parents don't seem to want them, their sisters both seem to just not care, and both of them dedicate themselves to the first people who showed them actual love and care: Shirou for Sakura Matou, and the Yggdmillennia for Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia.


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 15

The drive from the Einzbern Forest to the Tohsaka Mansion was made in silence, only the noises of the car operating, of other vehicles driving by, and of the city around them to be heard. Sakura sat next to one window of the passenger seat, while Aoi sat next to the opposite window. Caules sat between them, the young man an awkward buffer between mother and daughter.

He'd made a few attempts to get small talk going at first, but when those had gone nowhere, he'd fallen silent. The silence persisted, heavy and anxious, as they drove through the city and entered the suburbs.

Finally, they slowed as they drove down a certain street, and came to a halt along the curb outside the Tohsaka property. Doors opened and homunculi showed the passengers out. Two stood guard outside the gates, and more formed up in an honor guard on the grounds themselves, forming twin files of white-uniformed bodies along the path leading to mansion itself.

Aoi looked uncomfortable at the sight, realizing in hindsight how during her absence Yggdmillennia had taken some liberties with her family's property. Then she turned towards Sakura, who was standing to one side with a nostalgic air around her. After a few moments, she pointed at a tree next to the outer wall.

"There…" she said. "I remember…I climbed up that tree at night, just to get over the wall. It was…scary…I was just a child, after all. It was dark…and it was so high…and there was no way to get down on the other side…except to fall…to fall…"

"Did you?" Caules asked softly.

"…yes." Sakura said after a moment. "I skinned my hands and knees, maybe even lightly sprained a wrist…I cried…and I almost turned back…"

"…why didn't you?" Aoi blurted out.

"…because you didn't want me." Sakura said before shaking her head. "No…sorry…that's not right…Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't want me…he made that much clear back then…"

Sakura took a deep breath as she trailed off, and turned to Caules. "Our children…" she softly began. "…we'll do better, won't we?"

"Of course we will." Caules resolutely said, and Sakura nodded.

"Yes…we will…" she said, before turning to her mother. Aoi blinked, trembling as she fought the urge to look away, and after Sakura looked away uncertainly, let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in.

Then turning away, she led the way into the property.

"…good bounded fields…" Caules remarked as they followed Aoi into the grounds and towards the mansion. "…though I'm curious why didn't they notice and warn your father about you leaving on that night?"

"I'm guessing since I wasn't due to be taken away yet," Sakura answered. "I was still keyed to the identification protocols, and as family for all that."

"Meaning they saw no reason to warn of your departure." Caules noted. "Huh…that makes sense…"

"They probably noticed me doing so, though." Sakura said. "Tokiomi Tohsaka probably used that in turn to begin his token search come the following day, starting during the when the bounded fields recorded me leaving."

"That would also make sense." Caules said with a nod. "Though…where did you after you left?"

"…train station." Sakura said after a moment's thought. "I checked the maps when no one was looking during the previous days. Mother was busy doing household things, and Rin was locked away with Tokiomi Tohsaka…as usual."

"And then?"

"…I knew someone might come after me." Sakura replied after another moment's thought. "So I took the earliest train, pretending I was going to visit my grandmother on the other side of the island, and rode all the way to the furthest stop."

Sakura paused and laughed. "It's funny, really." She said. "In a First World Country like Japan, where the rate of kidnapping and similar crimes is so very low, people are just fine with little children going around on their own. No one really asked twice where I was going, or even wondered where my parents were."

"…weren't you in Osaka when grandfather's agents found you?" Caules asked after a moment.

"Yeah…I was." Sakura said with a nod. "I slipped and hid aboard a ferry to Hiroshima, and stole some food to pass the time with."

Caules and Aoi paused and looked at her in horror, but Sakura was unrepentant. "I was a runaway waif." She said. "And I was hungry. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Oh Sakura…" Aoi said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Sakura looked away with an unreadable expression on her face. Aoi brought herself under control, gratefully nodding at Caules after he offered her a kerchief to wipe her eyes with. "Once we were at Hiroshima, I slipped out and through the docks…" Sakura murmured. "And again bluffed my way onto a train to Osaka. I wanted to go further, but the money I stole from…this place, wouldn't let me go further, so that was my last stop."

"And then what?" Aoi pressed.

"…I survived." Sakura said after a long moment. "Long enough for grandfather's men to find me. And the rest is history."

Caules and Aoi still looked curious about what happened then, but Sakura's bitter expression convinced them not to press. After a moment, Aoi sadly looked away before once again leading the way into the house, while Caules took Sakura's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

Sakura's face softened at the gesture, and nodding gratefully at him, let him lead her inside.

* * *

"It's a joke."

"What?" Caules asked in surprise at the _non sequitur_.

The two of them were standing in the middle of the Tohsaka library, a warm and richly-furnished room with an old world air of quiet learning and contemplation to it. The windows were draped with crimson curtains held back by gold string, while their boots sank into the carpet below. The wallpapered walls were lined with hardwood shelves stacked from end to end with hardback tomes, some of them dating back centuries. Most of the titles were in Japanese, but there were also Chinese, German, English, French, Italian, Latin, and other titles. Most were on magecraft, but even then were plenty of materials on other subjects, and not just academic but literary ones at that.

It was an impressive collection, when the ones in possession of it could barely claim two centuries of history as magi. Sakura didn't look it though. Instead, her face was twisted with bitterness and spite.

"It's a joke in bad taste." She elaborated for Caules. "All these materials on magecraft, and it's nearly useless to me."

"I'm…not really sure how that's a joke." Caules cautiously ventured.

"I'm a magus born to a family of jewel magi…who absolutely cannot use Jewel Magecraft." Sakura replied. "The moment I put my prana inside a jewel, its elemental affinity will tint my prana, and render it useless at best for me, and at worst, turn it into a ticking bomb that could rend me limb from limb at any moment."

Sakura paused and made a sound of disgust. "It's a bloody comedy." She hissed. "Somewhere out there, someone has it out for me."

"…I disagree." Caules said after a moment, and causing Sakura to turn sharply towards him. He just raised an eyebrow at her. "If someone or something out there is on the out for you, then you couldn't have pulled off your great escape over a decade ago. You'd have become vampire fodder, we'd never have met, or you could simply have died on the street."

Caules paused and shrugged, before smiling at Sakura. "There's always a silver lining." He said.

Sakura stared at him peevishly for a few moments, before giving a grudging smile. "Point." She said. "Thanks."

"No problem." Caules said with another shrug. "Besides, even if you can't use Jewel Magecraft, I'd argue you got the better end of the deal even compared to your older sister."

"Huh?"

"How many Jewel Magi are there in the world?" Caules asked. "Hell, in the Mages Association alone, the Department of Mineralogy is full of them. And while Average Ones are rare, they're not _that _rare."

Pausing, he regarded Sakura with a tilted head. "Now," he continued. "How many magi possess Imaginary Numbers?"

Sakura snorted and laughed. "Oh Caules…thanks…really, thanks a lot." She said, sounding and looking more cheerful than she ever did on this day. "I needed that."

"Yes, you did." Caules agreed with a nod. "And you're welcome. I just do my best, that's all."

"Hmm…that you do." Sakura said before taking a deep breath. "Right, right…silver linings…alright, all this might be nearly useless to me, but that doesn't have to be the case for our children. They're going to need this when the time comes."

"They will." Caules agreed.

Sakura nodded. "We'll leave this here." She said. "We'll only take what we need. Find the relevant materials for the plan, and leave it at that. We – or our children – can always come here if they need materials for Jewel Magecraft."

"There's a good idea." Caules said with a nod. "I'll take care of it. You go and do the same for the workshop."

Sakura nodded, and clapped Caules gratefully on a shoulder as she turned to leave. "Thanks, Caules." She said. "For everything…"

Not waiting for a reply, Sakura strode away, Caules smiling after her until she was out of sight. And then sighing, the young man adjusted his glasses, and turned back to the library around him. "Now then," he said softly to himself. "Where should I start? Hmm…over there…"

* * *

The Tohsaka workshop was fairly typical as far as workshops go. Located in the basement, it was a musty room with a ritual circle in the middle, along with workbenches, a desk and a seat, extra chairs, along with shelves along the walls. Boxes and other stores of tools, materials, and the like sat on the shelves, along with the most precious tomes and written materials.

More materials were neatly stacked along the walls and in the corners, along with rolled up scrollwork. Sakura took it all in with a hard expression on her face, one which fell as she gave a sigh.

_Had things been different, this place would be so much more familiar._

_It would be as it should be, the heart of Tohsaka's mysteries, the place where our pride and power is greatest._

_Now…to me…it's just…_

Shaking her head clear of such wistful thoughts, Sakura made her way across the workshop. As she proceeded, she could feel the bounded fields of the place caressing and examining her. They recognized her blood, and the crest carved into her arm.

For those two, they welcomed her, and yet there was a touch of confusion regardless. They didn't know her, after all.

Pulling back the chair at the desk, Sakura sat down, and relaxed for a few minutes. She let the musty air and the half-light of gas lamps put her at ease, and then sighing, leaned forward to rest her elbows against the desk. Rubbing her face a few times, she looked around at the desk, and then began opening and pulling out drawers and boxes.

"_Let's see if there's anything of use to us here._" She thought.

Working alone for over an hour, Sakura went through the materials inside the workshop one by one, and discarded most of them as useless or redundant to her. Almost all the tools present she had in her own workshops, whether in Trifas or at the Clock Tower.

The jewels were useless to her, as were the mystic codes made from them. The tomes and other written materials here were shockingly old, some dating as far back as the 17[SUP]th[/SUP] Century, and probably belonged originally to her Finnish grandmother. They were on Jewel Magecraft, however, and as such were also useless to Sakura.

She did find her father's journals, though. And it was a struggle not to burn them…for now. They might have something useful in them, after all.

No…she wouldn't burn them. She wouldn't burn that foolish man's written legacy just yet. Not yet…

…she'd find anything of use in them, transcribe and synthesize them by her own hand, thus preserving them for future generations…

…_and then_ she would destroy his written legacy.

_Just as he deserves._

One by one, each of the journals vanished into Imaginary Numbers Space…

…and then there was the true treasure of the Tohsaka lineage of magi. A chest, an ordinary-looking chest of wood bound with rust-spotted metal, just sitting and gathering dust in one corner.

At first glance, it wasn't anything special, whether open or not. But for someone like Sakura who dealt with spatial manipulation on a regular basis…

…it only took a single glance to realize there was more to the chest than what met the eye, and a few minutes of examination to realize just what that was: the chest was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. Infinitely-so, at that, something that could only be achieved by means of High Thaumaturgy, infinitely-close to the realms of True Magic.

"_Tohsaka could not possibly have made this._" Sakura thought as she ran a finger along a rust-spotted band of iron on the chest. "_Edelfelt possibly…but given Nagato Tohsaka's history with the Wizard Marshall…plus what was inside…_"

There wasn't much on the inside, just a broken fossil of all things, as well as a child's toy – or a mystic code that appeared like one – and which was heavily-bundled with seals and wards of every configuration and paranoid levels of security, along with a sheaf of papers. It took several minutes for Sakura to even begin figuring them out, no thanks to the Escheresque details of the schematics drawn on the paper, along with mathematical equations and formulas that actually _hurt _to think about, but after several minutes and wiping away a nosebleed, Sakura had a shocking hypothesis as to what it was.

The broken fossil was tossed into the trash bin.

The papers, the toy, and the chest all vanished into Imaginary Numbers Space. She would work on them later, but if the papers were what she thought they were, Sakura knew she could only really set up a theoretical start on them. But she didn't mind. Because even if she couldn't make it reality, her as of yet-unconceived children or grandchildren might just do what she could not.

And for their sake, Sakura would forbear her own pride and ambition.

It was with that thought in mind that Sakura began cleaning up her own mess, having finished what she came to do down here, in the Tohsaka mansion.

* * *

"…did you meet your sister already?"

"Yes…yes, I did."

Aoi silently poured tea for herself, her daughter, and her future son-in-law. They were in the library, and Caules was off alongside one of the further away shelves, books neatly stacked at his feet. A voice that sounded like her husband's urged Aoi to approach the young man, and tell him off about touching the family's books. Until he was married to Sakura, he had no right to touch them.

And even then, he could only touch much less know what the family head decided for him to know, no more and no less.

Aoi shut it out, not without significant internal effort on her part, but she managed. Somehow…it was still there, the voice of her husband, but it wasn't as compelling now…at least, for now.

"And?" she asked.

Sakura didn't answer at once, though the way her right hand moved protectively to her left arm was telling in itself. "…did you fight?" Aoi asked in a whisper.

Sakura made sure to meet her mother's eyes before answering. "Yes." She said.

Aoi looked away, her eyes shut with pain at the thought of her children having to fight each other. While no magus herself, she knew what battles between magi involved, and how bloody they could be, especially when things like crests were involved.

"Was it worth it?" she asked after a few moments.

"…yes." Sakura said after a moment. "Yggdmillennia gave me everything…_everything_. I wanted for nothing. They gave me a home…love…respect…_family _even, despite not sharing blood with me…so when they asked that I take up the crest and all it came with for their sake…how could I say no?"

"Even if it meant fighting your own sister!" Aoi cried. "Spilling your own blood! Sakura…how can that ever be worth it?"

"…it's fairer than what Tokiomi Tohsaka chose to do." Sakura spat back, and evading her mother's question entirely.

"…and?" Aoi asked bitterly. "When you have children of your own, will you have them fight each other? Kill each other, just to decide who should have the crest?"

Sakura didn't answer for a moment. Instead, she slumped down for several moments, and then taking a deep breath, raised her head to meet her mother's eyes. "…yes." She admitted. "If all things are equal between them, then yes. I'll have them prove who should rightfully lead, even if it means a mortal combat to the death. It's fairer than simply deciding who should lead based on something as arbitrary as accident of birth."

Aoi gasped and reeled back in shock and disbelief, but in the next moment Sakura looked away. "But what are the chances of that happening?" she asked. "Rin and myself…we're the kind of once in a century genius…our children will be great, but not like we were. Different…somehow…if so…"

Sakura took a deep breath again before looking back at her mother. "Then whoever deserves to lead will lead," she said. "But I won't leave the others to fend for themselves, or discard them like mere trash. I'll be sure to give them a fair share."

"Sakura…" Aoi tearfully said while shaking her head. "Please…believe me…you…you were never…"

"Yes…I know." Sakura softly interrupted. "To you…I was never trash. But to Tokiomi Tohsaka…I was someone who was never meant to be born."

Aoi bit her lip, but unable to find the right words to say, could only look away once again.

* * *

"…Caules and I are still reviewing what relevant materials we've recovered from the Tohsaka library and workshop," Sakura reported to their grandfather. "But it's not looking very hopeful. Everything that concerns the Grail and its construction is, well, fragmentary."

"That," Caules added. "Or it's general information everyone with the right to know already knows, and if it's detailed information, it's something we can and have already inferred from our teams and the like on the ground."

"We'll continue our search and reviews," Sakura continued. "But…"

Darnic hummed and nodded unhappily as his granddaughter trailed off. "Do what you can." He said. "Though, don't let it get to you. If I remember right…yes, during the Third Holy Grail War, as the bloodshed for the Grail escalated to a degree never seen before or since, the original Tohsaka mansion was burned to the ground. As unfortunate as it is, it is unsurprising that you can only find fragmentary originals and inference-based studies made by those who lived since that time."

"Yes, grandfather." Sakura and Caules chorused, and with a dismissive gesture, Darnic ended the communication.

"…well, that went well." Caules remarked as their grandfather's hologram vanished.

"Agreed," Sakura said with a nod. "Though, here's to hoping the teams going over the Matou mansion are having more success than we are."

Caules hummed unhappily. "I'm not really very confident at the idea of assimilating the accumulated research of a Dead Apostle, are you?" he asked.

"…considering I was going to be fed to the Dead Apostle in question, my answer would be no." Sakura said. "That said…"

"Yeah," Caules said with a nod. "We need to know everything we can about the Grail, otherwise we risk blowing ourselves up – and Trifas – the moment we begin priming it."

"Or worse," Sakura said with a sick expression on her face. "We ignite the ley lines. What a disaster that would be."

Caules hummed his agreement. "…we just have to be careful, I guess." Sakura eventually said with a sigh. "Even if it is a Dead Apostle's library, it's still five hundred years' worth of knowledge compiled for posterity's sake. Knowledge, after all, is neither good nor evil. It's how it's used that determines that."

"Well, no argument there." Caules agreed.

* * *

"…mother must be trying to be funny." Sakura groused.

"…this was your room?" Caules asked.

"Yeah…it was…a very long time ago." Sakura said. "To think she had the help clean and fix it up for two…I have half a mind to go back to the airship for the night instead of spending it over here…"

"Sakura…" Caules chidingly said.

"Yeah, I know." Sakura said with a sigh. "It'd be rude when we already accepted her previous invitation to spend the night here. And I suppose we should be grateful she let us share a room."

"…the bed's a bit small, though." Caules observed before giving a wry smile. "At least by comparison to what we're used to."

Sakura smiled and laughed wryly herself. "Yeah, now that you mention it…" she said. "…huh…come to think of it…it's going to be a tighter fit than whenever we usually share a bed…"

"Hmm…looks like it…"

Sakura looked teasingly at Caules, and with a vaguely coquettish pose to boot. "So," she said. "How about taking advantage of the snugness tonight? Also, while the walls here are pretty thick, we could try needling my mother in a…certain, way…how about it, Caules?"

Caules coughed, and shakily adjusted his glasses in a desperate effort to regain his composure. It wasn't doing much good, considering how red his face was. "…anyway," he began in a transparent effort to change the topic. "How did you leave the house? I mean…did you climb out the window, or something?"

Sakura chuckled at Caules' efforts, but obliged regardless. "Yes and no." she said.

Caules stared. "What?" he asked.

"I went downstairs first." Sakura said, walking over to sit on the bed with a wistful air around her. "Then since I couldn't open the front doors, I ran around in circles for a bit, before I used a chair to reach a living room window and open it."

"And then out the window," Caules made the logical leap to complete the events of that fateful night. "Across the yard, up the tree, and over the wall to freedom."

Sakura chuckled and nodded. "Pretty much." She said.

* * *

"…I haven't had Japanese food in a long while." Caules remarked as he took his seat at the dinner table.

"Tell me about it." Sakura agreed. "And I'm supposed to be Japanese too, at least by birth. And whenever either me or you have Japanese…"

"…it's restaurant stuff." Caules finished with a nod. "Well…this should be an interesting experience. Home-cooked Japanese cuisine…"

Aoi smiled at the conversation, the first true smile she'd made ever since her rocky reunion with her youngest child. "Then," she said. "I hope it's to your liking."

"I'm sure it will be, ma'am." Caules said, before gently elbowing Sakura.

"Y-yeah…I'm sure it will." Sakura said, before fumbling with her chopsticks. Caules wasn't doing much better though, and after a few moments Aoi came over to their side of the table to help. "…thanks…"

"It's no problem, dear." Aoi happily said, before walking over back to her side of the table. Meanwhile, Sakura and Caules examined the saucers of pickled vegetables before them, and shrugging at each other, sampled the offered appetizer.

Sakura's eyes immediately went wide. "…oh, that was good." She said.

"I agree." Caules said, immediately taking another bite. "These are homemade pickles, yes?"

Aoi beamed an affirmative, before quietly asking a maid to get more servings of pickled vegetables. The first serving was finished quickly, the maids arriving with a second serving just in time. "You're not going to eat, ma'am?" Caules asked.

"Hmm…I suppose I should join in…" Aoi agreed, before picking up her chopsticks and helping herself to some pickled vegetables as well.

The second serving quickly came and went, and then the maids were serving steaming bowls of miso soup cooked with tofu, seaweed, and spring onions. It was pleasantly hot and savory, and Sakura only briefly struggled before giving in. "Hey," she hesitantly began. "Um…can I…that is…?"

"Would you like the recipe, Sakura?" Aoi preempted her.

"Yes."

Aoi beamed again. "I'd be happy to share it with you." She said. "In fact, I'd be even happier to teach you how to cook it."

"…thank you very much."

Aoi smiled even wider, while Caules set down his half-finished soup. "You do realize you're going to have to import the soup stock, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do." Sakura admitted. "But it's going to be worth it, won't it?"

"…if the soup comes out this good, then yes." Caules admitted in his turn.

"Do you know your way around the kitchen, Sakura?" Aoi asked curiously.

"Up to a point," Sakura replied. "I'm not really a chef or even an excellent cook, but I know how things are done, and the basic rules around the kitchen."

"But you can cook?" Aoi pressed.

"Yes." Sakura said with a nod. "But nothing like this…basic stuff…and European, of course. I…I was never expected to cook on a regular basis at a home setting, just enough to know if something was going wrong in the kitchen, so…"

Sakura trailed off uncomfortably, but Aoi looked curious. "If not at home," she began. "Then where were you expected to cook at?"

It was Caules who answered. "Outdoors," he said. "Part of our training is winter survival."

Aoi's eyebrows nearly met her hairline. "Winter _survival_?" she echoed.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Sakura quickly said. "Basically, it's a two-week camping trip into the Carpathian Mountains in wintertime. We're allowed to bring outdoor winter gear with us, and have ample supplies. It's just that we're expected to…forage, and live off the land if we're to pass those two weeks in relative comfort."

"…I'm still not quite sure about that…" Aoi cautiously said.

"Then," Caules said. "Perhaps we can tell you about one of our winter trips? I'm sure that'll be enough to convince you it's not even nearly as bad as it sounds."

"That would be nice, yes."

* * *

A/N

So now we have the barebones of how Sakura ran away, and which city she was in when Yggdmillennia (or others in other runaway Sakura fics of mine) found her.

In all seriousness, winter survival training isn't really as bad as it sounds. It's not like what Einzbern had Illya do, i.e. run and summon a Servant for her life or be eaten by hungry wolves. It really is just a camping trip in winter, on the Carpathian Mountains. Camping as in by tent, mind. No warm hunting lodges or anything of the sort, and while their starting supplies can last two weeks with proper rationing, there _will _be tight belts unless the campers live off the land.

There might be no worm rape in Yggdmillennia training, but it can still be quite harsh, harsher than even Rin's own training. Remember that canonically, Yggdmillennia training at one point involves raising a pet and then having it killed in front of you to drive home the 'magi walk with death' lesson.


	17. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 16

_Three years ago_

The wind howled wildly over the snow and ice-capped peaks of the Carpathian Mountains, sending white flakes flying at great speed through the air. It whipped through the evergreens, bending their trunks and branches before its force, and buffeted at the party of five making their way along the mountainside.

Struggling against the wind and the snow, they trudged their way after the one at the lead, every so often wiping their goggles clear of snow and frost. Displaced air cracked as lightning ripped from the leader's hand, almost immediately drowned out by the howling wind, but the lightning blew the snow off a rock formation, a landmark on this peak.

The leader checked the compass at his wrist, wiping the face clear of snow and frost, and cross-referenced the landmark with the map in his head. Turning, he waved at his teammates, and then gesturing ahead of them, turned back and continued to lead the way. The other four members of the team followed in his wake, one tripping on a snow-covered rock just a few steps along.

The magus nearly fell, only to be caught by another member of the team who helped her up on her feet. The magus nodded her thanks, and received a nod back in turn. Turning their attention back to the front, they picked up the pace to catch up, and then slowed to a steady pace as they did.

The wind continued to howl as they fought their way to a large clearing, and again cross-referencing his compass and the map in his head, the leader gestured wildly at the clearing. Immediately, one of the magi present opened up a hole in reality, and reaching in pulled out a number of iron stakes. She handed them out to the rest of the team, every magus pulling a mallet from the heavy packs they carried.

That done, the magus pulled out a mallet of her own from Imaginary Numbers Space, and joined her teammates in drawing a rough circle on the clearing. The sound of rubber-capped wood striking iron was lost to the wind as the stakes were driven through the snow and into the ground, and then the other magi were stepping back, one of their own kneeling with a gloved hand held against one of the stakes.

The aria spoken was lost to the wind, but soon a glowing circle was linking the stakes together, and extended a shimmering, translucent dome overhead. It blocked out the wind and the snow, which hammered angrily at the dome, building up in drifts that quickly grew in depth and thickness.

"Come on, stop gawking and get back to work." The team leader, Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia yelled as he pulled down the winter mask shrouding his face from the elements. Then putting down his pack, he stowed his mallet before pulling out a shovel. Still taking the lead, he began to clear the snow in the middle of the dome.

Most of the rest of the team did likewise, though Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia hurried over first. "Caules," she said, and as the young man paused and turned to her, she pulled off his goggles. "Glasses?"

"Oh…right…thanks, Sakura." Caules sheepishly said.

Sakura nodded, and walking away a short distance, began to clear the snow with a shovel she'd taken from Imaginary Numbers Space. She was the only one among them not carrying a pack, thanks to her ability to use and access said pocket space.

Stowing his goggles, Caules opened the water and snow-proof case carrying his glasses, and put them on. Then he returned to clearing the snow, along with Sakura and one other Yggdmillennia magus. The other two Yggdmillennia magi were busy assembling the frame of the tent they'd be using.

Work proceeded quickly and steadily, the frame ready once the ground had been cleared, not just of snow but also of rocks and other debris. They'd also made certain there were no unpleasant surprises therein, such as nests or lairs of any kind.

The frame was then brought in, and anchored to the ground with more iron stakes. Then the Yggdmillennia magi were coming inside, all save for Sakura who gestured with a hand. At the gesture, the bounded field violently dispelled outwards, blowing the great drifts built up against it away.

The wind and the snow struck at her with a vengeance, staggering the fifteen-year-old girl a step, but then turning, she crouched down, and crawling through the entrance and into the tent, zipped it closed behind her.

* * *

The tent interior was a scene of activity. The ground had been padded with portable flooring, and everywhere the rest of the team was busy setting up their sleeping accommodations. Sleeping bags were being unrolled, and outer clothing shed in the light of portable lamps.

"…still quite cold, even with the tent." Lili Faircloughe Yggdmillennia remarked while stripping off her hooded winter cloak. Beneath, she wore a thick, turtleneck sweater in dark blue, with long sleeves. Folding the cloak, Lili shuddered from the cold and rubbed at her arms with gloved hands.

"This tent's supposed to be insulated, isn't it?" Aldway Yonge Yggdmillennia asked. Like Lili, he'd taken off his cloak, but kept his gloves on.

"It is." Caules confirmed with a nod. "But, we are in winter on the mountainside. The insulation's only going to take us so far. So with that said…Lili, you're a fire affinity, aren't you?"

Lili nodded, quickly picking up on Caules' line of thought. "I'll set up a bounded field to help keep us warm tonight." She said, before giving a small smile. "After we get something to eat, though."

Caules laughed. "Fair enough," he said. "Taking a walk in cold weather takes a lot out of you."

"Especially in a winter storm." Sakura chimed in, and causing laughter to gently go up.

Edda Ainsley Yggdmillennia was already pulling out a ration pack. "Well," she said. "Let's not waste any time. We can even talk over the plan for the next few days while we're eating."

A chorus of assent went up at that, and the team of Yggdmillennia magi out on a winter outdoor survival exercise were breaking out their rations. It was quite frugal as far as aristocrats went, just black bread along with dried fruit and cured meat, with honey cake for dessert, all washed down with clean water.

And as they munched away on their supper, Caules had broken out a map from his pack, along with a compass and a grease pencil. Studying the map for a minutes, Caules marked their position on the map, then the first of two objectives they had to reach within the next two weeks, and drew a line between them.

"Right," he said with a nod. "We should be around here, but we need to make sure. Hopefully, this storm will have passed by tomorrow morning, so we can get more concrete bearings."

"Then we're setting out?" Aldway asked.

"…we could," Caules said slowly. "But I'm thinking we spend tomorrow hunting. There should be deer around here, and we can stock up on meat for the next two weeks."

"…sounds good." Aldway agreed.

"We'll have to ration the bread, though." Edda glumly said.

"Sadly true," Caules said with a sigh. "But, it's better than no bread at all."

"I say we should hold back on the sweet stuff, too." Sakura chimed in. "Keep it in reserve, for when we need a quick boost in energy."

"…that makes sense." Lili said, and Aldway nodded in agreement. Edda made a face, but as Caules nodded his own agreement, sighed and gave way.

"So we'll keep the honey cakes and dried fruit in reserve, and ration the bread." Caules said, making notes in a pocket notepad. "As for the cured meat…well, depending on the success of our hunt tomorrow, we might not have to ration that."

"If we're lucky," Sakura said. "We can keep it in reserve and just subsist on venison for our protein needs for the next two weeks."

Thoughtful agreement went up at that, and then Edda was chiming in. "We should keep an eye out for edible roots." She said. "If there are, we might not have hold back as much on the bread."

"There's an idea." Aldway agreed.

"Yes…there's an idea, alright." Caules said, making another note. "Speaking of keeping an eye out, we should do the same for any wild berries that might be growing out there."

"…I've got a poison kit ready just in case." Sakura remarked in a sing-song voice, and earning her a shove to the head from her fellow magi.

"Not funny, Sakura." Lili snapped.

"What?" Sakura defensively asked. "It's a valid concern. Some edible berries look just like the poisonous ones."

"…it's not something to make jokes about regardless!"

"Fine, fine…"

Caules coughed. "Anyway…" he said. "So for now let's finish our meal. Afterwards, Lili will set up a bounded field to help keep us warm at night. Sakura, you should set up protective bounded fields around the clearing as well, the rest of us standing watch while you do. Also, send out some spirits on patrol as well."

"Okay." Sakura said with a nod.

"About that," Edda said with a raised hand. "I can take care of the patrols. This way, Sakura can conserve her prana for just in case it's really needed."

"…if you're sure you can handle it…" Caules cautiously said, and trailed off at a scoff from Edda.

"Of course I can."

"Alright then…" Caules said with a nod. "Once the fields are up, we'll dig pits for a fire and our refuse. Aldway and me will go gather some firewood. Tomorrow, we'll go hunting, while the rest of you melt snow and boil water for drinking."

"Got it!" the rest of the team chorused.

Caules nodded, and making a final note, put the last of his bread ration for this evening into his mouth.

* * *

_The present day_

"…it basically sounds like you just went camping." Aoi remarked.

"That's because that's what we basically did." Sakura said with a nod. Dinner was done, and now the three of them were having coffee and ice cream for dessert.

"With some hunting on the side." Caules said with a shrug. "Both literal, and figurative."

"…I'm not sure I completely approve of the former." Aoi uncomfortably said. "Didn't you say earlier that your rations could last the whole of two weeks with careful planning?"

"Yes." Caules and Sakura chorused.

"Then, was it really necessary to go and hunt wild animals for food?"

"Well…if we were to spend two weeks in relative comfort, then yes." Sakura said. "And we'd have been reprimanded if we didn't. Not much, but there'd be…chiding…"

"…while it's not against the rules of the exercise," Caules explained. "It's considered underperforming and even _lazy _to not make the best of our training and circumstances. Rationing starting supplies is a good start applying what we were taught to do in preparation, but that's just it: it's a start. If that had been our first or even our second winter survival exercise, then our superiors would probably have let it slide, but that was our third, and we were expected to do much better."

"And it's not like we were chasing down and hurting and then killing animals just for fun." Sakura added. "Nor did we hunt more than we needed. We just…did what we had to do."

"Well, if you put it that way…" Aoi uncomfortably conceded before trailing off. The silence persisted and then began to grow heavy, before the older woman sighed and spoke up again. "Relative comfort…?"

"We couldn't exactly bathe outdoors in winter." Sakura pointed out. "And while we had ample clothes to change into, washing dirty clothes outdoors in winter isn't really a good idea."

Caules coughed. "There are spells to clean clothes without getting them wet or using soap," he said. "But…"

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Nothing beats a proper wash, drying, and then pressing." She said. "And like I said: no baths. The closest we could get were hot towels boiled over a fire to wipe ourselves down with. Thank God none of us had our periods during the trip, that would have been really…uncomfortable."

"And awkward." Caules joked, only to get an elbow for his trouble. Despite herself, Aoi found herself holding back a giggle at the sight.

_Perhaps they really are a good match for each other…_

_…better than me and Tokiomi ever were…_

_…maybe…_

_…just maybe…_

_…they…_

* * *

_Three years ago_

"Steady as it goes, Aldway." Caules whispered.

"Don't worry, Caules." Aldway breathed. "I've done this countless times before. Just leave it to me."

The two young men were lying prone on the ground, hidden behind a snow-covered chunk of dead wood, both their eyes on a stag with a majestic set of horns sprouting from its head. The stag calmly stood in the middle of the clearing, moving its head back and forth as though trying to put its figurative finger on the sense of wrongness and danger it was feeling, even as Aldway was zeroing in with his crossbow's sights.

Then Aldway pulled the trigger, a muffled crack echoing through the clearing as the crossbow sent a steel bolt flying through the air. It buried itself in the stag's neck, sending the animal flying sideways to fall, twitching in pain against the ground.

"Got it!" Aldway cheered as he got up from the ground, brandishing his crossbow as he did so. Caules was also up on his feet, and rushing over to their quarry, knelt down before laying his hands gently on the dying animal's flank.

Murmuring softly to himself, Caules gently stilled the erratic bioelectric rhythms of the animal's nervous system, essentially putting it to sleep. "…this should keep us well supplied with meat for the rest of the week." He finally said.

"That it should." Aldway agreed, walking up next to Caules, his crossbow already reloaded and held over a shoulder.

"Right…hey, give me a hand over here."

"Huh…oh right, yes, of course."

Replacing his crossbow in its holster, Aldway also knelt down, and helped Caules tie their quarry's feet together. Then sliding a wooden pole between its legs, they lifted the dead stag into the air, supporting the pole on their shoulders before heading back.

"Which way, Caules?" Aldway asked.

"…back the way we came, of course." Caules replied after a moment, spent checking his compass and landmarks. "Come on, we still have to dress and cut up the stag once we get there. You…planning to keep the horns?"

"Of course I am." Aldway cheerfully said. "Though, if you want, you can have this one. I've got plenty back home."

"No thanks, I'm not really interested." Caules said. "Besides, it might freak Fiore out. Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem."

The trip back to camp was largely done in silence, apart from the sound of snow crunching beneath their boots, and at times, Aldway's whistling. Finally, they returned back to camp, where a fire was burning merrily in a pit a few feet away from the tent. The three females in their team were clustered around it, keeping warm while nibbling on some wild berries they'd apparently found in the woods.

"That's a big stag." Lili remarked. "Good work, guys. Now…dress and clean it, over there."

"Hey, how come we can't do it near the fire?" Aldway protested. "I think we deserve some warmth after all the trouble we went through just to find and bring this stag back."

"…you seriously want to dress and clean your kill here, where we eat our meals?" Sakura asked.

"…point."

The three women made shooing gestures, and Caules only laughed as he and a softly-grumbling Aldway put some distance between them and the fire. Then putting their kill on the ground, they pulled out their hunting knives, and sinking to their knees, got to work.

* * *

_The present day_

"…well, they did have a point there." Aoi pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Caules said with a sigh. "Which is why I didn't even try arguing, like Aldway did."

Aoi nodded. "Hmm…while I still don't completely approve of hunting," she said. "I have to admit, it is rather impressive that you can dress and clean an animal."

"Thank you, ma'am." Caules said with a nod, before shooting Sakura a small smile. "Though, Sakura here also knows how to."

"Hmm…I'm not surprised," Aoi said with a small smile of her own. "I take it then you both know how to cook while camping?"

"Yes." Sakura said with a nod, Caules nodding next to her. "It's nothing special though, not really something you can put forward in a cooking competition, much less in a proper restaurant. I would say it's good enough for a meal at home though, if it comes to that."

"What can you cook with venison anyway, Sakura?" Aoi asked in genuine curiosity.

Sakura hummed for a few moments. "…well, there's always the ever simple and time-tested roast on a fire." She said with a smile and a 'what can you do' gesture. That got a laugh from both her mother and fiancé. "Soup as well, and stews, though vegetables are hard if not impossible to come by outdoors, and while there are wild herbs that you can sometimes find while foraging, they're neither easy nor common to find."

Aoi nodded in understanding. "In any case," Sakura said with a shrug. "The most basic seasoning is just salt, and we always have plenty of those."

"Oh?"

"…kind of…"

"Salt pills, as a daily supplement." Caules explained. "Most people think that when exerting yourself outdoors, the most important thing you have to replenish for the body is water. In a way, they're right, but salt is equally important. Especially when you sweat a lot: lose too much salt, and it's just as bad as getting dehydrated."

"One salt pill is usually good for a pot of soup." Sakura cheerfully said. "Two, if it's too bland."

Aoi nodded in understanding. "So I see." She said, before taking a drink of her coffee. Her mug emptied, she allowed a maid to refill it for her, with Caules and Sakura having theirs refilled as well a moment later. "And? Earlier, you mentioned you had objectives to reach. What were those?"

"Oh that…well, the first winter exercise is the only one which is completely like a camping trip." Caules said. "The ones going forward involve…well, I guess you could call it a treasure hunt. We're given clues to find where it is, and while they're usually straightforward and easy to figure out for anyone with some background in geography, actually getting there and getting what you're supposed to get is a bit more challenging."

"Oh?" Aoi asked, tilting her head in curiosity. "In what way?"

"Well," Caules said while adjusting his glasses. "Back then, it was…"

* * *

_Three years ago_

The party of five magi dove for cover as steel bolts rained down and punched deep into the ground they'd been standing on just moments ago. Snow and dirt erupted in plumes, while in the distance, bronze automatons with glowing red eyes spun their tracks as they spread out, weapon-limbs terminating in repeating crossbows traced the movements of the magi. Machinery whined, and with fast-paced cracks, loosed bolt after bolt in a deadly second volley.

"They're trying to flank us!" Sakura said, drawing her saber before reinforcing her body and leaping forward. Zigzagging to avoid bolts loosed her way, she swung once, rhenium alloy carving through bronze and steel and shearing an arm off the automaton.

Then the uneven ground threw her off-balance, causing Sakura to trip and roll across the ground. She spat out snow as she came to a halt, and then rolling on instinct, narrowly avoided getting shot to death.

Fixated as it was on Sakura, the automaton was left open for Edda to literally smash it to pieces with a horizontal swing from her war hammer. Nearby, Alsway drew enemy fire his way by taking potshots with his own crossbow, allowing Lili to complete a five-count aria and unleash a flame spell that reduced a third of the automatons to molten slag.

It complete wore her out though, leaving her gasping behind cover with Aldway taking potshots next to her. Then the ground heaved and broke, Edda using her earth elemental magecraft to open up the ground and causing the automatons to fall inside, entombed them within.

"And that's that." She said with a grin.

"Don't get overconfident." Caules said, crouched behind a tree and working on a glowing mandala. "The objective is trapped, and we still have to get it. Sakura…you're the fastest here with us. I can open up the field and delay the trap's trigger for a few seconds, in that time, grab it before getting out."

"Got it." Sakura said, sheathing her sword and stamping down on the ground to get a feel for it.

"On three…one…two…three!"

Sakura dashed forward, snow erupting with every footstep as she thundered through an archway in a low stone wall along the mountainside, and into a shrine-like structure set into the cliff. She grabbed the statuette on a plinth inside, and then swept back out.

The air shifted as she went, growing heavy and stinking with ozone. Static built up, causing her hairs to rise on end, and just as she passed through the archway, reached critical. All the static inside the objective lashed out, forming a bolt of lightning that struck the ground in the middle of the archway, which Sakura had been standing on just a moment ago.

"Alright!"

"Nice work, Sakura!"

"Well done!"

"Sorry, Sakura!" Caules apologized in contrast to the cheers of their teammates. "I held it off as long as I could."

"It's fine, Caules." Sakura said, only ever so winded while hefting the statuette in her hand. "You did your best."

Caules nodded and adjusted his glasses.

* * *

_The present day_

"Tell her about the ogre."

"…_ogre?_"

"…I was just about to."

* * *

_Three years ago_

Aldway could only make inarticulate sounds of awe and shock as the ground shook beneath their feet, as the dog-headed alchemical spawn lumbered out of the cave next to their second objective. "It's an ogre!" Caules yelled in disbelief.

"…why an ogre?" Sakura incredulously shouted.

"They must really want to test us, why else?" Caules shouted back.

"…even so, this is going too far!" Sakura shouted while drawing her saber.

Meanwhile, the ogre lifted the gigantic glaive it was armed with, and then swung down in a two-handed, overhead sweep. The blow struck the ground with enough force to crater it several feet deep and across, and violently displacing the surrounding air.

The magi fell back and away, scattering to surround the alchemical spawn with weapons and mystic codes drawn. "Shit," Sakura swore. "This is no joke, succeed or die, is it?"

Lili began chanting an aria, a mandala glowing beneath her as she waved her baton-like mystic code as though conducting a musical score. Edda charged in with a loud shout, war hammer raised to strike. Sniffing in disdain, the ogre casually backhanded her away, sending the young woman flying with a cry.

Speeding after her, Sakura caught Edda, though inertia still sent them flying through a tree which then fell on top of them. Meanwhile, Aldway was opening fire with his crossbow, but even with reinforcement speeding up his rate of fire and increasing his bolts' penetration, he was only really annoying the ogre, it's thick skin softer yet comparable in protection to steel plate.

"Damn it, what's it going to take?" he shouted, as Caules' attempt to bring the ogre down failed and indeed, left the other magus vulnerable to a riposte. Caules narrowly escaped, but was again sent flying as the ogre's glaive smashed the ground and split the surrounding air.

As though in response, a ball of fire – no, not fire, _plasma _– seared through the air, melting snow and turning it into steam, and struck the ogre's glaive as it was swung to block. Sparks and gobs of molten metal exploded all around, and forcing the magi to dive for cover.

The ogre though, was disarmed, and fell to its knees with much of its torso a burned ruin. "F-finish it off!" Lili gasped as she struggled to stay conscious while on all fours.

Sakura was the first to respond, dashing in and stabbing her saber through the ogre's chest. Ichor hissed as rhenium alloy cut through flesh and carved into the monster's heart, and then Sakura was gasping in shock and horror as the wounded monster raised a fist to strike down at her.

And then thunder boomed, as Caules fired off a lightning bolt that crippled the ogre's elbow, and shocking it into paralysis long enough for Edda to deliver the killing blow. The magus' war hammer caved in the back of the ogre's skull, splattering her with blood and gore, but after a moment the ogre's eyes went dark and it crumpled to lie still, dead on the ground.

* * *

_The present day_

"…that…that really happened…?" Aoi stammered out in disbelief.

"Yes." Sakura and Caules chorused.

Aoi took several drinks of her coffee to regain her composure. "And that is…standard, training…a standard training exercise in your family?" she asked.

"Once you're old enough, and you don't have anything important to do in winter, yes." Sakura said.

"At least until you're an adult, and even then you can still be invited to join in a training exercise." Caules cheerfully added.

"…I…I see…I don't mean to judge but…doesn't this all seem very…I don't know how to say it…"

Sakura shrugged with a sad smile on her face. "We're magi." She said, and left it at that, as though something so short could be an answer. And in a way, it was.

"I…I see…"

Sakura's smile turned even sadder, but with of iron resolve beneath. "Caules," she said. "Tell her about the pup…"

Caules' hand immediately covered Sakura's mouth, but it was too late, as an expression of mixed apprehension, concern, and suspicion appeared on Aoi's face. "What about the puppy?" she asked, and Caules gave a groan.

"Well, you see…"

* * *

A/N

Just a breather chapter, to show how Aoi and Sakura can get along so long as Tokiomi isn't brought up. Though, Aoi still really isn't happy with Yggdmillennia training methods, which are far more brutal than Tohsaka's (though still kinder and far more humane than Matou's so-called training). Especially the puppy: unlike the King's Men, which have as their final test shooting a blank, Yggdmillennia really do kill the puppy to drive home the 'magi walk with death' lesson.


	18. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 17

The Matou mansion burned. Masonry creaked and groaned as flames hungrily licked out of broken doors and windows, smoke pouring through the holes in the roof lit from below with angry red and orange.

No firefighters stood around the property though, pouring jets of water into the building to put out the fire. There was no one chopping down the trees on the grounds, or digging trenches as firebreaks to keep the flames from spreading. No one sounded the alarm as sparks flew on the night breeze, bringing with them the danger of starting more fires elsewhere in the district.

There were no crowds on the street, as there should be in such an event as this, gawking and wasting time and effort in a mix of apprehension, anxiety, curiosity and fear. There were no policemen keeping them away, and trying to get them to go home.

There was simply no one to witness much less take action against the flames ravenously consuming the Matou mansion. And how could there be, when no one could notice?

Bounded fields were such versatile things. In this case, a bounded field around the Matou property kept anyone from noticing what was happening inside, either until the mansion had been reduced to an ash-filled pit in the middle of the grounds, or the field's makers thought to do otherwise.

The latter was all but impossible to happen, though.

And so the Matou mansion just kept on burning. No one saw, no one could notice, and no one cared.

Magi could see and notice, but none of the magi present in the city would care. They were all busy elsewhere, celebrating their triumph. Indeed, the burning of the Matou mansion and everything it represented was just another part of that triumph.

And so the fires just kept on burning, hungrily devouring everything it could inside and outside the mansion. Fabrics made from rich and handwoven brocades, linens, silk, cotton, and wool, gold-embossed wallpaper, handcrafted hardwood furniture dating back centuries, oil paintings and portraits…all those and more, there was just so much to burn. And burn they did.

_Everything _burned, the home of the Zolgen lineage of magi for the last two centuries tottering and shaking as the extreme heat cracked and shattered the masonry of its walls, and melted and distorted the internal framework. The building wouldn't last much longer, and once it was gone, so too would be the last visible legacy of the Zolgen lineage of magi.

Going back five hundred years to the Renaissance, it would all end here, in a burned ruin in a city on the far side of the globe from the land of their birth. No one would shed a tear though.

Zolgen's legacy was one of unspeakable horror, after all. It was a legacy of excruciating torment and horrible death, of walking the world in a half-life as a nest for parasites, literally consumed bit by bit with every day that passed, before ending as a rotting corpse being devoured by worms in a dark pit beneath their homes, whether in distant Russia or here in Japan.

Whether it was the world of common man or that world which existed only in the moonlight, the legacy of the Zolgen brought nothing good and fair. Fear, agony, and horror were their only fruits, with even those who knew only of what the Zolgen wanted others to know holding them in contempt, loathing, and distrust.

Even their (former) Einzbern allies had held them in low regard, the alliance merely one of convenience, nothing more and nothing less. Indeed, past a certain point in time, the alliance existed only on paper, with the representatives of the Einzbern regarding the Zolgen – or as they were known by then, the _Matou_ – as worms only to be crushed underfoot.

Such irony…

Only their other allies, the Tohsaka, ever held them with respect. Fools…

…in decades to come, the seventh head of Tohsaka – or as she was also known, the _first_ head of Tohsaka Yggdmillennia – would transcribe in her memoirs the painful (if not _knowing and willful_) ignorance of her ancestors regarding their so-called allies. The Matou had figuratively been feeding them dirt from the very beginning, and they never even realized it.

Small wonder Einzbern had held Tohsaka in contempt as well, if to a lesser degree than they held Matou in.

Tohsaka Yggdmillennia would also write in her memoirs that it should come as no surprise that Zolgen/Matou's legacy was complete malignance. Their founder and patriarch, right up until the end, had been a Dead Apostle, after all. A bloodsucking and flesh-eating monster who had deliberately discarded his Humanity for some selfish goal of little to no value.

How could a being such as that, much less its descendants, ever contribute to the betterment of the world?

To be sure, there were outliers, but they didn't count. They were aberrations, men and women with good hearts and strong wills, enough to turn their backs on their monstrous kin and live good and normal lives of their own.

There were few and far, typically only appearing once every century, the latest being one Kariya Matou. More to the point, as aberrations and outliers to their monstrous family, they could only be judged separately on their individual merits.

Tohsaka Yggdmillennia would also remark in her memoirs that perhaps Zolgen/Matou's departure from Russia centuries ago was more than just meant to bring them in closer proximity to Fuyuki's Holy Grail. Though evidence is scarce and circumstantial, what there is seems to indicate that Makiri Zolgen/Zouken Matou's true nature was beginning to show, and the move from Russia to Japan was also meant to avoid swift and just retribution from the powers of the moonlit world.

Regardless, Tohsaka Yggdmillennia condemned her ancestors' incompetence for failing to notice their so-called allies' monstrous nature. Even more so, as evidence indicated hundreds of deaths in the centuries of Zolgen/Matou's residence in Fuyuki, no doubt devoured to sate the vampire's need for Human flesh and blood.

Tohsaka were the Second Owners of Fuyuki, after all. It was their responsibility to know and take action. And they failed.

Worse, they might have known, and actively conspired with Zolgen/Matou to cover up the latter's wrongdoing, and in so doing, became active accomplices in their crimes against Humanity.

Tohsaka Yggdmillennia would later admit her vendetta against Zolgen-blooded families in Eastern Europe was rooted in a sense of responsibility and to atone for the failures and crimes of her ancestors. It would be carried on by her heirs, most famously – or _infamously_, depending on who you asked – the complete and utter extermination of the Bondar and Borovyk lineages of magi by the brothers Altair and Asterion Tohsaka Yggdmillennia.

But that would be in the future.

Now in the present, the Matou mansion's burning edifice caved in on itself, sucking in huge amounts of air before throwing it back out in a blazing fireball. Hot debris flew along with the fireball, and started smaller fires across the grounds and beyond, but while the mansion had caved in, the destruction was still far from complete.

And so the fires continued to burn, and would burn all through the night.

* * *

As the Matou mansion burned in the distant suburbs, a trio of airships flew triumphantly above the skies of Fuyuki. The _Ceahlău Massif _and the _Peleaga_ flew next to each other, steel cables hanging between and below them, holding aloft the Holy Grail.

The Carpatin flew a safe distance away, but from the viewing deck on top of the airship, spotlights illuminated the Grail, as did other spotlights from the cabins beneath the other two airships. Chamber music provided a cheerful accompaniment to the Yggdmillennia scions celebrating their triumph on the viewing deck, and another step taken to the goal of opening the path to the gates of the Root.

Champagne flowed freely, served in crystal glasses on silver trays by homunculi servers, along with finger food on porcelain plates. Scions gathered in small groups and cliques, chatting and conversing with one another, while others – usually the younger ones – gathered along the safety railings, staring out into the open air and pointing down at the glittering cityscape of Fuyuki in awe.

In the cabin's dining room, more scions enjoyed five-course meals with a wide selection of wines, again to the accompaniment of chamber music. Others were sightseeing in the sitting rooms, or passed the time one way or another in desired privacy inside the cabin's suites and rooms.

Other scions were even more daring, making use of hang gliders to fly past and around the airships and the Holy Grail. A few even used familiars to touch – by extension – the Holy Grail.

"Is something the matter, Missus Tohsaka?" Caules asked, approaching his future mother-in-law with a pair of wineglasses in hand. He offered her one, and as Aoi took it, raised his own glass in a toast.

Aoi returned the toast, and took a sip as Caules did so as well. "Not…really…" she said softly. "I'm just…not used to such large, social gatherings as this."

"I see." Caules said with a nod.

Aoi sighed and took another drink to brace herself. She sat at an out-of-the-way corner of the viewing deck, wearing a white, long-sleeved dress with gold trim along the hem, cuffs, and collar. It was very…different, compared to what everyone else was wearing, but as she wasn't a magus herself, she wasn't entitled to a proper uniform. Even so, she still had to fit-in, hence the dress.

Instinctively, Aoi's eyes sought out her daughter, and found her standing with several other scions. They were chattering excitedly among themselves, very much like young women of their age, gesturing wildly and flippantly to each other, before breaking out in laughter in unison.

Aoi simultaneously smiled in happiness for her daughter at the sight, and felt her gut twist with envy. Happy, that Sakura had found good friends in this…family. Envy, no matter how unexpected, because Aoi had never really had any close friends such as those Sakura appeared to have.

Whether it was her parents or her late husband, Aoi had always had to present the appearance of the dutiful daughter and wife respectively, demure, modest, and noble, unhindered by meaningless and wasteful frivolities. Only Kariya had ever indulged and drawn Aoi out of her shell, and even then it had only been on sufferance from her parents and husband.

Guilt filled her then, so much so that Aoi drained half her glass to drown it with, on how she'd pushed her first, oldest, and perhaps, only friend away with her defense of her husband all those years ago.

"…um…are you alright?" Caules cautiously asked, having noticed Aoi suddenly drinking so heavily.

"…just…some old regrets coming to mind…" Aoi answered softly. "…old wounds reopening…"

"I…I see…"

Aoi took another drink before lifting her head up to look at the starry skies above. "…perhaps you should go around, maybe…converse, with some of…our, relatives?" Caules ventured. "That might get your mind off…old regrets…"

Aoi shook her head with a smile at her future son-in-law. "Thank you for the offer," she said. "But I don't really know anyone here. I wouldn't want to intrude. Besides…"

Aoi trailed off with a sigh. "I can only speak Japanese." She continued. "And from the sound of things, most of…our, relatives, don't speak it."

"…sadly true, I have to admit." Caules conceded after a moment.

"…how many languages do you speak, Caules?" Aoi asked in genuine curiosity.

"Six," Caules admitted. "Though not all fluently. I can speak Romanian, Russian, and English fluently. I can also speak German, French, and Japanese, though as you've noticed, I…have something of an accent, whether it's any of those three."

"It's not that bad." Aoi reassured Caules. "What about Sakura, though? How many languages can she speak?"

"Five, I think." Caules said. "Romanian, Russian, German, English, and Japanese, though she can speak all but German fluently. That one she speaks with an accent."

"…I see." Aoi said while draining the rest of her glass. Caules looked on in concern, even as Aoi played with the glass' stem with her fingers. "Come to think of it…no, I know Sakura grew up in…Trifas, wasn't it? But, who raised her? Did she have…parent figures…surrogates...someone like that?"

"…not really," Caules said after a moment. "Well, there was grandfather, but apart from him…as far as I know, Sakura only really had a governess as a child, and only until she was old enough to take care of herself."

"I see." Aoi said with a slow nod. "But she didn't grow up alone?"

"…no…" Caules said slowly. "I mean…she had the rest of us who lived at Trifas, but she didn't really have anyone she could call a sibling. Wait, no, there was Fiore…"

"Fiore…she's your older sister, isn't she?"

"Yes." Caules said with a smile. "She is, and now that I think about it, yeah, you could call Fiore Sakura's surrogate older sister."

"I see…"

"Would you like me to introduce you?" Caules offered. "I mean, Fiore can't speak Japanese, but if it's just the two of you, I can mediate."

"…I don't want to cause trouble."

Caules laughed. "It's no trouble at all." He said. "And once Sakura and I…well, get married, then Fiore will probably be even closer than before. I'd think she'd want to know you some more."

"…hmm…alright then…"

Caules smiled, and helping Aoi to her feet, looked around for his sister.

* * *

A server bowed as the scions took all the glasses from his tray, and then rising, strolled away to get some more. Edda raised her glass, and the rest of them did so to return the toast. "So," Kendra Tathame Yggdmillennia began. "What's next for you, Sakura?"

"Back to London, I suppose." Sakura replied, while swirling the champagne in her glass. "I've done my part in the plan so far, and from here on, it'll be Meister and his select lieutenants who'll be in charge of figuring out how the Grail works."

"That's probably going to take a while." Opeline Airaldii Yggdmillennia remarked with a sip. "The Grail was the nexus for a Grand Ritual, and partly based on the Third True Magic. And you know as well as I do how…complicated, High Thaumaturgy can be."

"That's true." Edda said, and nods went all around.

"Best not to rush things too." Wassa Ashe Yggdmillennia said. "Haste makes waste, and all that. Like you just said, it's complicated. And the more complicated things get, the more chances there are something could go wrong, especially when you're tinkering with something."

A chorus of assent went up at that. "Well, I'm not complaining." Sakura said after another sip. "I've been taking the past couple of years a bit fast, to be honest. It'd be nice to slow down and start living life for a while before the next big thing that needs to be done."

"Oh yeah, definitely." Lili agreed before winking at Sakura. "Especially since you're going to get married in a couple of years, aren't you?"

Sakura's cheeks turned the palest shade of pink, and she took a drink to regain her composure. "Yes, that's…pretty much been a thing for two years now." She said.

Giggles went up all around. "I have to admit I'm a bit jealous." Lili said. "I mean, Caules isn't really a…what do the Americans call it? A chunk?"

"Hunk…they call it a hunk." Edda supplied.

"Oh right…thanks. Ahem…Caules isn't a hunk, but he's quite handsome in his own way, and he's such a nice guy too. He'll be a good husband and father, that's for sure."

Sakura hummed her agreement, eyes distant while staring into the swirling champagne in her wineglass. "Yes…" she said softly. "He definitely will be."

The rest of the girls stared at Sakura for a few moments, and then giggled again. "…looking forward to getting married, are we now, Sakura?" Wassa teased.

Sakura threw a smirk their way. "Jealous?" she asked.

"Yes."

Laughter went up at that. "In all seriousness," Sakura said once the laughter had died down. "Yes, I am looking forward to getting married, and having a family of my own. It'll be…nice…yes…very nice…"

"How many kids do you plan to have?" Lili asked.

"At least two," Sakura said, her quick reply clearly showing she'd thought of it beforehand. "But I want three, two boys and a girl, in that order."

"…why that order?"

"The boys can help each other lead Tohsaka Yggdmillennia," Sakura said confidently. "And the girl…well…to be honest…"

Sakura paused, and blushed while rubbing the back of her head. "…I just want a little girl to spoil, that's all." She shyly admitted.

Sympathetic and agreeing noises went up from the girls, while Sakura took another drink to regain her composure. "What about baby names?" Edda asked. "Thought about them yet?"

"…no…and even if I did, that'd be a thing for between Caules and me." Sakura said with a teasing note.

Disappointed responses went up at that, though it was clearly just for show. "I suppose it makes sense you'd want to keep things like that private." Kendra admitted, to an agreeing chorus from the other girls. "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for when your children are born, after all."

"My thoughts exactly." Sakura said, and getting another round of agreeing noises from her friends.

* * *

"So…" Sakura conversationally began as she sat down for a late dinner with her mother in the _Carpatin_'s dining room. "How was your talk with Fiore?"

"I wish I could have spoken to her myself, instead of having Caules as an interpreter." Aoi said with a sigh. "I mean…I'm grateful to him, I really am. And I trust he made sure to stay faithful to what I wanted to say. Even so…it doesn't feel as…genuine, as speaking for yourself does."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I see what you mean." She said.

Then the conversation stilled as servers set down the first course, green vegetable salad served with vinaigrette dressing. Afterwards, their glasses were filled with ice water, the glass frosting over with condensation immediately.

For a few minutes, mother and daughter ate in relative silence, and then Aoi was dabbing her mouth with her table napkin. "If I were to learn a language to speak to…the rest of the family, myself," she hesitantly and softly began before taking a drink. "What would you suggest?"

"Romanian," Sakura said immediately. "The family's heartland is in Romania, after all. So we all learn to speak Romanian, even those who don't live in Romania."

"I see…" Aoi said with a series of slow nods.

The rest of the course was again eaten in slow silence, and then servers were taking their dirty plates and utensils away, before replacing them with clean ones. Glasses were refilled, and then the next course was served, cream and mushroom soup steaming hot. Aoi took a cautious spoonful, and then making a delighted sound, took to her serving with greater enthusiasm.

This course was finished quickly and again in relative silence, and then the servers were again replacing dirty bowls and utensils while topping up Sakura and Aoi's glasses. The next course was fish, trout cooked in light cream sauce served with greens, and after making a choice from an offered selection, white wine was poured to compliment the course.

"Caules tells me you know how to speak five languages." Aoi lightly remarked while slicing into her fish. "I also get the feeling you needed to learn those. Why?"

"…Romanian because I live in Romania." Sakura said, also slicing into her fish. "Russian because in Eastern Europe, if you're going places then you need to learn to hear and speak Russian. German, because in Western and Central Europe, if you're going places then you need to hear and speak either or both German and French. English, because the Clock Tower is in London, and English is the_ lingua franca _of the world. Japanese, because I'm Japanese by birth and blood."

Sakura paused in thought, and then shrugged before putting a forkful of fish into her mouth. She finished chewing and swallowing before continuing. "I might have to learn Finnish, one day." She said, before taking a drink of white wine. "My grandmother was Finnish, after all. It might come in handy."

"…it might be." Aoi conceded.

The rest of the course was finished in silence, and then servers were taking away their plates and silverware, and replacing them with clean ones. Water glasses were topped up, and red wine selected, opened, and poured. Then the meat course was served, pork chops cooked in sweet sauce served with a side of mixed vegetables.

"How did your conversation with Fiore really go?" Sakura finally asked as she sliced into her chops.

"…she's a sweet girl." Aoi said after a moment. "I can see why you look up to her as a sister. She's nothing like Rin at all."

"No, she isn't." Sakura agreed, before taking a bite and washing it down with red wine. "But I don't think it's fair to compare them either. Rin is Rin. Fiore is Fiore. They're their own persons, and both have their own good and bad sides."

"…and?" Aoi said, focusing on her meal and refusing to meet Sakura's eyes. "Which of them would you prefer as your older sister?"

Sakura paused, looking at her mother with a raised eyebrow. Aoi though, pointedly refused to meet her daughter's eyes. After a moment, Sakura smiled. "Why not both?" she asked.

Aoi laughed, relief and happiness evident in every peal. "Greedy, aren't we?" she asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Rin's my older sister, no matter what." She said. "We have the same parents, after all. Fiore…well, she was there for me growing up, and once me and Caules get married, she really will be my older sister. An in-law, of course, but that's good enough for me."

"Hmm…I suppose so." Aoi said before tilting her head. "About Caules…do you really want to marry him?"

"…I'm a magus." Sakura said after a few moments. "I have a duty to ensure the next generation is born with the best they can be born with. Marrying for love isn't really an option for me."

"…true." Aoi admitted. The next several minutes were spent eating in relative silence, and then Aoi continued. "That said…I…I wouldn't want you to end up with the same failed marriage I had. Whether it's you or Rin…you both deserve better."

Sakura sighed and looking up at her mother, smiled without reservation for the first time. And for the first time since their reunion, Aoi saw the little girl she'd thought she'd lost well over a decade ago. It made her really warm and light on the inside, and in a way she hadn't felt in such a long time.

"…thank you." Sakura said. "That means a lot, really."

Aoi nodded. "Going back to Caules…that's also why I'm fine with marrying him." Sakura continued. "If I'm going to be saddled with an arranged marriage one way or another, I could do worse than Caules. We know each other, growing up together as we did, and we work well together."

"He respects you, in other words." Aoi perceptively said. "He sees you as an equal, and is prepared to compromise and work with you to make things work between you, instead of one or the other between you playing follow the leader."

"…yes."

"That's good…very good…I'm sure you'll be able to make it work…the way I couldn't with…with my husband…"

_If I had married Kariya…run away with him the way he asked me to a few days before he turned his back on his family…then…could we possibly have…?_

"…as for Rin," Sakura was saying while forking vegetables into her mouth. "Well, since she's no longer head of the family, she can marry for love if she wants. She can even stop being a magus if she wants to, I won't hold it against her. If she wants to become…say, a schoolteacher, a doctor, a lawyer, or even to enter politics, then it's fine. I'll support her all the way."

Aoi chuckled. "I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that, Sakura." She said happily.

Sakura shrugged and returned to her meal. After several more minutes, the course was done, and again the servers took the dirty china and silver away and replaced them with clean ones. Coffee and dessert preferences were selected, and then water glasses were being topped up. A few minutes later, and both Aoi and Sakura were served with freshly brewed coffee along with slices of cake.

Chocolate cheesecake for Sakura, and lemon cheesecake for Aoi. Aoi took a sip of her coffee, preferring to take it black, while Sakura first added cream and then sugar to her coffee. Then Aoi replaced her coffee mug on its saucer, and patiently waited for Sakura to finish taking her first drink of her coffee.

"Sakura," she began with a serious tone that caught Sakura's attention immediately. "Are you happy?"

Sakura smiled. "Yes," she said. "I am."

* * *

A/N

And that's the end of the first arc. I'll be putting this on hiatus (again), though I'll be dropping a few interludes every once in a while. Such as: Reines' business with Shirou with regard to Kiritsugu's butchery of her brother and the destruction of the El-Melloi Crest, Rin and Luvia, Caules and Sakura's wedding, and the disposition of the Tohsaka Crest.


End file.
